Rita Gregório de Melo was born on June 25th, 1925, daughter of Idalino Gregório and Maria Francisca das Chagas, in a Várzea do Açu’s Ranch, in Rio Grande do Norte’s State. It was there that her siblings Francisco Gregório, Joana, Manuel, Luísa, Teresa, Júlia and João Batista were also born. Between the 20s and the 40s of the 20th century the Antunes Gregório family lived on Camilo’s family property; they were the owners of the famous Alemão Farm in Várzea do Açu. Like the majority of northeasterners of this time they did not have their own land, neither cattle, not even a cowboy’s status.