The longest married couple in America are about to celebrate their 81st wedding anniversary.
John and Ann Betar eloped on November 25th, 1932. The couple fled from their close-knit Syrian neighborhood in Connecticut to escape Ann’s father who wanted to marry her off to a man 20 years older. They drove as fast as they could to New York to begin their life together when many family members thought the marriage wouldn’t last. So, what’s their secret?
“Well, marriage isn’t a lovey-dovey thing, you know. For 80 years, you know, you can learn to accept one another’s ways of life, agreements, disagreements… disagreements on our children’s preparation or bringing up your kids. That was the main interest. It was your children.”
But according to her husband John who’s now 102, the only problems they had, were about what to eat.
“It’s only about cooking. That’s the only arguments we have.”
“See? That’s what he thinks. It’s only about cooking.”
The Betars, who were awarded a plaque from the Worldwide Marriage Encounter, now have 14 grandchildren and 16 great-grandchildren. Just goes to show, true love doesn’t grow old.

Difficult words: elope (get married secretly), close-knit (held tight together by cultural ties), last (continue to exist), love-dovey (very romantic), plaque (tablet which marks something).