Faustino Vargas Pérez

BIOGRAPHY

Faustino Vargas Pérez was born in Naranjo de Alajuela, Alajuela, Costa Rica on 27 September 1896. He was the youngest child born to parents Jose Faustino de la Concepcion Vargas (1851–1920) and Manuela Margarita Perez Murillo (1857–1945).

As a young adult, he worked as a bricklayer, before later beginning a career as an operator in the Ministry of Public Works, which involved him personally delivering telegrams to then-Costa Rican President Ricardo Jiménez Oreamuno. In 1926, he married Amanda Corrales, and the pair would go on to have eleven children together. The couple would remain together for 77 years until Amanda’s death in 2003. In 1960, he retired from his career at the Ministry of Public Works, and moved with his family to the province of San José, settling in Tibás.

At the time of his 110th birthday in 2006, he remained both physically healthy and mentally lucid, being able to walk with the aid of a cane and give lengthy interviews about his life to reporters. His only significant age-related ailment was his near-deafness, which required people to shout into his ear to communicate. He got up every morning around 5:30 AM, and read the newspaper with breakfast. In 2007, he had 18 grandchildren, and 22 great-grandchildren.