Julio Mora and Waldramina Quinteros
People Magazine recently published an article about Julio Mora and Waldramina Quinteros, a married couple who secretly married seventy-nine years ago, on February 7, 1941, against their families' wishes.
The husband and wife who were married in La Iglesia de El Belen (the first church built by the Spanish in Ecuador's capital of Quito) are now considered the oldest living married couple in the world, with a combined age of nearly 215, according to the Guinness World Records. As of Saturday, the couple has lived a combined 78,654 days.
The couple has four children, 11 grandchildren, 21 great-grandchildren, and one great-great-grandchild.
"For us, Julio Cesar and Waldramina, it is a great honor and pride to have a Guinness World Records title because it is the highest award that the world recognizes," Quinteros, 104, and Mora, 110, said in a statement to Guinness. "The secret formula = love + maturity + mutual respect," they added.
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With this news came a couple of questions; we wondered who previously held the record and if there were any past couples who were married longer. A quick internet search gave us the following results:
Zelmyra and Herbert Fisher
The answer to the first question is Zelmyra and Herbert Fisher, who previously held the Guinness World Record for the longest marriage. They were married on May 13, 1924. In 2008, they earned the record for the longest marriage at 84 years. In 2011, Herbert passed away at 105, and a few years later in 2013, Zelmyra followed at 105 years old as well.
The answer to the second question is somewhat complicated.
According to Wikipedia, the longest known marriage was actually held between Karam and Kartari Chand, who lasted together for … wait for it … 90 years.
It isn’t clear why their claim to the world's longest marriage has not been recognised by Guinness World Records but the pair tied the knot in India in 1925 during the British Raj and later moved to England where they had eight children who gave birth to 27 grandchildren.
When Herbert passed, the couple had been married for 87 years.
Finally, it is worth mentioning that Austin, Texas, couple, Charlotte Henderson and John Henderson were previously listed as the oldest with a combined age of 212 years and 52 days.