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Olimpio Martins Pires

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Olimpio Martins Pires
Olimpio Martins Pires
Martins Pires on his 110th birthday (claimed 112th birthday) in 2020
Birth: 24 August 1910
Aracuai, Minas Gerais, Brazil
Death: 16 October 2020
Manga, Minas Gerais, Brazil
Age: 110 years, 52 days
Country: BrazilBRA
Validated

Olimpio Martins Pires (24 August 1910 – 16 October 2020) was a Brazilian supercentenarian whose age is validated by the Gerontology Research Group (GRG).

Biography[]

Olimpio Martins Pires claimed to have been born in Aracuai in the Jequitinhonha River valley of Minas Gerais, Brazil on 24 August 1908. However, later-life documents mention his birth year as 1910 but, according to the family, as he had many brothers and his mother went to register them all at once he was registered with the birth date of a brother who was two years younger than him.

He was born as the son of sugar cane mill owner and flour merchant, Armindo Martins dos Santos, and his wife Rosenda Soares dos Santos. His mother was a housewife. He spent his childhood in Araçuai, helping his father to make rapadura (unrefined whole cane sugar). He had eight siblings. As a young man, he entered the Military Police of Minas Gerais in Belo Horizonte, under the influence of his uncle, Jose Martins Pinto, then PM sergeant. He served in cities such as Belo Horizonte, Aracuai, Diamantina, Sao Francisco and Sao Sebastiao de Pocoes. As a PM soldier, he participated in the Revolutions of 1930, 1932 and other armed movements, where he saw many colleagues die and, with much sadness, had to bury their bodies.

At the age of 29, he married Joana dos Santos, then aged 14, in Rio Pardo de Minas, however they got their first child when Joana was around 24. The couple had nine children: Armindo, Neide, Elza, Maria da Ascencao, Joao Batista (now deceased), Jose Olimpio, Cleonice, Raimundo and Geraldo (now deceased). He arrived in Manga, Minas Gerais on 5 October 1940, still a soldier. In 1953, he was honored by the Government of Minas Gerais through Decree No. 4,123, recognizing his services in the revolutions and promoting him to the 3rd Sergeant. Besides being a soldier, he also worked as a delegate, prosecutor and judge. He was once stabbed by a prisoner near the navel, but managed to recover. In August 2016, he had 22 grandchildren and about 30 great-grandchildren. His wife died in 2018 at the age of 95, after 81 years of marriage.

Martins Pires died in Manga, Minas Gerais, Brazil, on 16 October 2020, at the age of 110 years, 53 days (claimed 112 years, 53 days).

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References[]

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