Get Valentine’s Day Love Advice from America’s Longest-Married Couple
John and Annie Betar’s love story reads like the script to a beautifully romantic movie and every word of it is just another testament to their real-life, long-lasting love. And when we say long-lasting, we mean it! The pair, who met during the Great Depression, have been together for an incredible 83 years which makes them America’s longest-married couple.
Their romance had a story-like beginning when John, as just a young man, fell for the pretty neighbor girl, Annie. Because she was a little younger and still in high school, he would offer to driver her and her friends to school. Swoon!
But Annie’s life wasn’t all innocent drives. Her father was intent on his daughter marrying a man 20 years older than her, apparently thinking that man was better suited to provide Ann a stable lifestyle. But the young woman would have none of it and at just 17 ran away and eloped with the love of her life, John. From there, they began a life together that has spanned an incredible eight decades.
Now 100 and 104 years old and the proud Nana and Papa to 14 grandchildren and 16 great-grandchildren (wow!), John and Ann Betar will be bringing their marital success secrets to Twitter this Valentine’s Day. That’s right, Twitter! Just tweet @Handy (who will be making a charitable donation for the Betar’s services) with the hashtag #longestlove and you can ask the couple anything your heart desires.
But if you can’t wait until the 14th, then you can get a few thoughts from John on today’s technology and dating. “You guys live by the phone,” he told The Washington Post via email, likely a comment on Millennial dating habits. “Rely on the phone so much.” And what if they had started dating today? John said first, he’d “Google her,” and then “text or call to ask her out.”
But most of all, he said, “We’re just lucky to be together. So fortunate. [The best part of life is just] simply being together.”
Well, hello tears! *sniffle*
What would you ask John and Annie about long-lasting love? Tweet us @britandco!
(h/t The Star; photos via John and Ann Betar)
