Adonis was born in Greyton, Western Cape, South Africa, on 5 August 1907, as the eldest of eight siblings. She grew up on a farm in Greyton. She left school at the age of 14, reportedly due to being teased for being a 14-year-old in Standard 5 (Grade 7). After dropping out of school, she looked after her father’s sheep. As a biracial South African, she lived under apartheid rule between the ages of 40 and 86.

At the age of 16, she moved to Cape Town, and worked as a domestic worker in Sea Point. At the age of 21, she married Edward Adonis, who was of the same age. The couple initially settled on Hope Street in Cape Town, and within a year, they transitioned to Athlone. While they did not have children of their own, she actively participated in raising her sister’s 14 children, among others. She was also employed at a clothing factory.

Her husband passed away in 1959, aged 51. Following his death, she lived independently in her Kewtown flat, up until the age of 92. At that point, her family deemed it too precarious for her to live alone, leading her to relocate to her niece’s residence in Belgravia Estate. She was a member of St George’s Anglican Church in Silvertown and was one of the six founding members of St George’s church’s Anglican Women’s Fellowship.

In August 2018, on her 110th birthday, her youngest and sole surviving sibling, Napoleon, was still living at the age of 88. In May 2018, she suffered a stroke, and due to her family’s inability to provide the necessary frail care, she was relocated to a nursing home. At the age of 111, she resided at Nerina Place nursing home in Bishop Lavis, Cape Town. At the time, reports indicated that her hearing and vision had significantly declined, and she was also dealing with hypertension.

Adonis passed away in Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa, on 1 February 2019, at the age of 111 years, 180 days.