Julio Mora slipped away from his parents to secretly marry Waldramina Quinteros one February day. Both families disapproved.
Key points:
The couple married in Quito in February 1941
While not the longest marriage in the world, their combined age makes them the oldest couple
The previous oldest married couple was from Texas, with a combined age of 212 years
Seventy-nine years later, they are still together — he at 110 years of age, and she at 104, both lucid and both in good health, though relatives say they are a little depressed because they miss their big family get-togethers due to the pandemic.
There are longer marriages, but at the moment no other between people so old, according to Guinness World Records — just short of a combined 215 years.
Mr Mora was born on March 10, 1910, and Ms Quinteros on October 16, 1915.
They wed on February 7, 1941, in the first church built by the Spanish in Quito: La Iglesia de El Belen.
The two retired teachers live in Ecuador's capital of Quito, where in mid-August they received the Guinness certification.
Their daughter Cecilia says they are both lucid and active, although they no longer have the agility they had before.
But "for a month they have been different, more downcast because they miss large family gatherings".
Family say Mr Mora and Ms Quinteros are missing family amid the pandemic.(AP: Dolores Ochoa)
And they can gather quite a crowd: four surviving children, 11 grandchildren, 21 great-grandchildren and one great-great-grandchild.
"Since March, we have not had any of that," Cecilia said.
"My parents need family contact."
She said her father enjoyed watching television and drinking milk and that her mother, who enjoys desserts, likes to read the newspaper every morning.
Previously listed as the oldest were an Austin, Texas, couple, Charlotte Henderson and John Henderson who have a combined age of 212 years and 52 days.
AP