domingues was a firm believer in the american dream, was deeply religious, had conservative political views, and was a pen pal of u.s. president ronald reagan. she had four children, but only one of them (a son, frank) reached adulthood. frank died in 1998 at the age of 71, with adelina outliving him by four years. domingues died at a nursing home in the san diego, california, area in august 2002, at age 114 years and 183 days. domingues claimed she was actually 115 years old, but her family and cape verdean diplomats did some research and discovered her baptismal information, from which they concluded that domingues was 114 years old when she died.