Her father and brothers conducted doorto-door sales of goods. She was married to Manchikanti Naraiah from Narayanpuram, a larger town in the Nalgonda district in Bodangparthy - Hyderabad State, also known as Samastan Narayanapuram. She was married at the very young age of 12 and lost her husband by age 20. She moved to live with her sister and adopted Manchikanti Yadagiry. She spent all her life promoting education and educating her grandson, Laxmaiah, demanding that he become a doctor above any other profession.

She passed away when Laxmaiah Manchikanti was in medical school in 1971. However, her dream lives on with the establishment of the Manchikanti Educational and Charitable Trust which funded the Manchikanti Gopamma Memorial Mandal Primary School and the Zilla Parishad High School, both of which have educated thousands of children over the years. Gopamma was also the inspiration for a multitude of other developments in her small town.