Amalia Gomes Dantas was born in Patos, Paraíba, Brazil, on 6 December 1908 to Francisco Gomes dos Santos and Veneranda de Arimatéia Lustosa. Her brother was Fernando Gomes (died in 1985), who was a priest in Patos and Metropolitan Archbishop of Goiânia, Goiás. She studied at Nossa Senhora das Neves College in João Pessoa, Paraíba.

On 10 May 1936, she married Antonio Dantas de Almeida in her native Patos. The couple had five sons: Rui (philosopher, theologian and teacher), Murilo (deceased as of 2017, electrical engineer), Ronaldo (mechanical engineer), Paulo Antônio (pediatrician), and Marconi. The first three children (Rui, Murilo, and Ronaldo) were born in Patos, while the two youngest ones were born in Pianco Valley.

Her husband died in 2006, at the age of 99.

Gomes Dantas died around 4:00 p.m. in Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil on 18 April 2022 at the age of 113 years, 133 days.