102-year-old teacher reveals secret to longevity, is older than passport shows

Nina Abramova, a resident of Pereslavl-Zalessky in Yaroslavl Oblast, celebrated her 101st birthday on January 12, 2026. But that«s according to her documents. According to the centenarian herself, she is even older. She cites her true birthdate as January 15, 1924. That means, as Nina Vladimirovna says, she has actually turned not 101, but 102 years old. Her story is told by 76.RU.

The Youngest in a Priest«s Family

«My father is a priest. We had four children in the family. I was the youngest. The village council recorded our birthdates only some time after my birth. My mother didn»t have time to go herself then—the village council was five or six kilometers from our home. She asked a neighbor to convey the data. And that neighbor mistakenly gave the wrong numbers,« Nina Vladimirovna explained the confusion with her age.

She never tried to get the date corrected. She says there was never an urgent need for it. But she always celebrates her birthday on January 15.

The centenarian«s family first lived in the village of Nikolo-Ramenye in Poshekhonsky District. Nina Vladimirovna still considers her early childhood years the happiest. But around 1930, grief came to the family—persecution of the church began, and her father was sent into exile in Siberia. The church where he served was destroyed.

Nina Vladimirovna«s mother moved with the children to the village of Artemyevo in Myshkinsky District. The family, left without a breadwinner, struggled. To somehow support the children, her mother got a job as a teacher in a school.

In 1939, her father returned from exile, but did not live long after that.

The Most Difficult Time

The daughter followed in her mother«s footsteps—she also trained to be a teacher. For over 40 years, Nina Abramova taught Russian language and literature at a school in Myshkinsky District.

In her opinion, the most difficult were the first years of the Great Patriotic War. At that time, she, like many other women, worked in the rear—engaged in agricultural work, growing vegetables for the front.

«There were bombings over Yaroslavl Oblast as well,» the centenarian recalls.

Three Grandchildren and Ten Great-Grandchildren

Only after the war did Nina Vladimirovna get married. She and her husband Mikhail Nikolayevich had two daughters. Now the centenarian has three grandchildren and ten great-grandchildren.

Nina Vladimirovna«s husband died in 2004. The woman still remembers him warmly.

«My husband worked in the forestry. He was good, practical,» she said.

Secret to Longevity and Advice to the Young

After retiring, Nina Vladimirovna continued to lead an active lifestyle for a long time. She lived in the village until she was 93, worked in the garden, planted potatoes. But age finally took its toll. In recent years, strength has been leaving the centenarian. Her daughter Marina from Pereslavl-Zalessky took her in to provide proper care.

Nina Abramova believes that she was able to live over 100 years thanks to good genetics and health inherited from her parents—her mother lived to be 87. It is possible that the hardships that befell our interviewee in some way toughened her up.

«There was a time when I sat half-starved. There were many difficulties that had to be overcome,» Nina Abramova recalls.

It is unknown how long her brothers and sister would have lived. Unfortunately, they all died unnatural deaths. The older brother died in the war, the second froze to death. The sister died from poisoning.

To the youth, our heroine gave her advice: «The most important thing in life for a person is to work. To work honestly. If everyone brings benefit, then life will become easier for all.»