Supercentenarian Profile

Dulce de Oliveira Ramos

Born:

1917-04-12

Sambaetiba, Itaboraí, Rio de Janeiro,

Brazil

Current Residence:

Niterói, Rio de Janeiro,

Brazil

✔ Age Certified by LongeviQuest

Dulce de Oliveira Ramos is a Brazilian semi-supercentenarian.

BIOGRAPHY

Dulce de Oliveira Ramos was born in the district of Sambaetiba, Itaboraí, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on 12 April 1917. Her parents were Martinho José de Oliveira and Nathalina da Costa Oliveira. She was the seventh of nine children (five sons and four daughters). Sadly, she lost her mother at age 11, and her father on 7 January 1933, when she was 15.

On 28 July 1934, at age 17, she married Valcino Batista da Silva. The following year, at age 18, she had her first child, Valcer Baptista da Silva (28 June 1935 – 15 May 2017). She was widowed when she was only 20 years old.

Dulce remarried on 27 April 1939, at age 22, to Raul Martucci, who worked in retail. This marriage produced two children; first to a newborn that passed away seven days after birth, and later to a daughter, Nazaré. She was widowed once again on 18 February 1944, at age 26, when Raul passed away from acute anemia in São Gonçalo.

She married for a third time on 21 September 1945, at age 28, to Abel Ferreira Ramos (7 November 1913 – 21 January 1976), a native of Portugal who worked in commerce. From this marriage, she had her two final children; Reinaldo and Jussara.

Throughout her entire life, she was a person of calm and friendly disposition, never having quarreled with anyone. She held a life philosophy that it was never worth retaliating, as doing so caused anguish twice over: first from the offense suffered, and then from the act of retaliation itself. For her, it was enough to suffer just once. In this way, she guided the course of her life.

Dulce was a person who struggled with her diet. She liked very few foods, and did not drink water. She disliked fruit juices, preferring soft drinks; specifically Guaraná, which were the only beverages she consumed. She never ate anything raw. Consequently, lettuce and other leafy greens were not part of her menu. She did not like potatoes, carrots, or similar vegetables. She could not tolerate olive oil or seafood. She rarely ate fish, and not every type of fruit appealed to her.

It was not the most recommended diet, and she dismissed any criticism regarding soda (the only liquid she consumed). She did, however, drink milk until the insertion of her GTT (gastrostomy tube) when she was around age 105, at which point she began drinking water daily.

In the morning, she would eat a small amount of coffee with milk, and bread with a lot of butter, which she adored. She could not stand margarine. She followed this diet until the GTT was implanted.

For her main meals, she consistently ate beans, rice, cassava flour, along with a vegetable and, most frequently, red meat. Vegetables such as green beans, okra, broad beans, peas, cabbage, pumpkin, and zucchini appeared much less often. On Sundays, she would make pasta and roast chicken. Having lighter snacks instead of full meals on Saturdays and Sundays was a much later development. She claimed that snacks didn’t provide the same sustenance as a traditional dinner. Although, given her difficulty with food flavors, there wasn’t much variety to choose from anyway.

She never worked outside the home; she did not do – nor wished to learn how to do – embroidery, crocheting, knitting, or other crafts. She did sew, however; she made the clothes of her children throughout their childhood.

Dulce remained fully lucid until the age of 105, and was, without a doubt, a true outlier. She outlived many “healthy” people, from the most rigid and fussy eaters to the more moderate ones.

Her last surviving sibling was Victória de Oliveira Novaes (17 November 1919 – 14 July 2020), who lived to age 100.

She currently lives in Niterói, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.