Mamédio Alves Magalhães, 105, and Ana Araújo Magalhães, 100, a Brazilian couple who had been together for more than eighty years, died this Friday four hours apart.
The Mayor’s Office of Paranâ, in the state of Tocantins (center), confirmed the death of the couple, called for “strength and unity” for the family in “this moment of mourning” and reported that the funeral will take place this Saturday in that town.
The couple did not have children, but helped raise family members and other children in the rural area where they lived, according to reports from family members to the media.
Mamédio, who at 105 years of age was lucid and with his faculties, stopped eating and his health worsened after Ana suffered from severe pneumonia and after the doctors gave her no hope and sent her to die at home next door. of the husband.
However, Mamédio’s situation became complicated and on Thursday he was admitted, he first dying in the hospital at 04:00 (07:00 GMT) and she, who had been without lucidity for several months, died at the residence at 08:00 (11:00 GMT). ).
Research on this topic is old. The English epidemiologist William Farr in the 19th century found that whoever was married was less likely to catch pneumonia, undergo surgery, suffer from cancer, or suffer a heart attack. His conclusions today are somewhat outdated (he excluded common-law couples, divorcees, homosexuals from his examination). In addition, the results are also susceptible to being interpreted the other way around: in the sense that it is not marriage that improves health, but that those who are in better health are more likely to end up married, according to a process of natural selection to guarantee the reproduction of the species.
However, science today continues to support Farr’s original thesis. Jean-Claude Kauffmann, a sociologist at the University of Paris and author of several books on relationships, recalls that sharing life with someone is healthier than being alone. And he resorts to an extreme example. “This question was already dealt with more than a century ago, right at the beginning of sociology, by one of its founders, Emile Durkheim, in his book Suicide, in which he showed that singles commit suicide more than married people. . The reasons are that those who have married are installed in a framework that regulates existence, while singles have much more freedom to change their minds, behavior, and life, which leads them to lose a little sense of their identity. existence. It is what is called anomie. And it is the price that is paid for that freedom”.
According to Guinness World Records, the longest marriage was between Herbert Fisher (USA, born 1905) and Zelmyra Fisher (USA, born 1907).
The couple have been married 86 years and 290 days since February 27, 2011, when Mr. Fisher passed away.
Together they weathered the Great Depression and World War II, lived through the Civil Rights Movement, and finally lived to witness the first African-American president of the United States. President Obama even sent them a signed congratulations in 2010.
