World’s longest-married couple, together for over 80 years, reveals the secret to their lasting relationship |
Marriages are tough; it’s a daily choice to be with your partner, and to accept and love them in sickness and in health. No wonder then that its a universal question for many couples- What’s the secret to a long and happy marriage? Well, they might have an answer to this now...In a world where relationships often come and go, 107-year-old Eleanor Gittens and her 108-year-old husband Lyle Gittens from Miami have proved that sometimes marriages can really can last a lifetime — and beyond. The Gittenses were recently crowned the world’s longest-married couple, and they say the secret behind their incredible 83 years of marriage is beautifully simple. Read on to know more about their marriage secret and their love story which didn’t just break records but also stood the test of time, war, distance, and history itself.World’s longest-married couple’s secret to a long and happy marriageThe Gittenses have been married for 83 years (and counting). LongeviQuest’s global validation team confirmed the couple’s record after reviewing their 1942 marriage certificate, U.S. census data, and decades of archival records. The Gittenses officially took the title after the passing of Brazil’s Manoel and Maria de Sousa Dino, who had been married for 85 years.With a combined age of 216, Lyle and Eleanor are now not only the world’s longest-married couple but also the oldest living married couple ever recorded — a living testament to their enduring love.When asked the secret to their long marriage, their answer was fairly simple yet profound. “We love each other,” Eleanor told LongeviQuest, a website that tracks centenarians and supercentenarians. And, her husband Lyle echoed her words with a smile, “I love my wife.”How Lyle met Eleanor: Their love story that survived the test of timeLyle and Eleanor’s journey started back in 1941, when Eleanor attended a college basketball game at Clark Atlanta University, reported The Guardian. She doesn’t remember who won that night, but she’ll never forget meeting Lyle — the young athlete who would one day become her husband.A year later, with World War II looming, they decided not to wait. Lyle was serving in the U.S. Army, and he was granted a short three-day leave to marry Eleanor on June 4, 1942. It was a wartime wedding filled with hope, courage, and a promise that they would find their way back to each other no matter what.Love through war and distanceSoon after their wedding, Lyle was sent overseas to fight in Italy with the Army’s 92nd Infantry Division. Pregnant with their first child, Eleanor moved to New York City and found work managing payroll at an aircraft parts company.Their only connection during those years was through letters — most of them heavily censored by the military. Eleanor once joked that “more of his words were blacked out than visible,” but those brief lines of love and reassurance were enough to keep her going.Lifelong learners and partnersWhen the war finally ended, the two reunited and began building their life together in New York City. They both passed the civil service exam, worked in government jobs, and even found time to travel — especially to Eleanor’s favourite destination, Guadeloupe in the Caribbean.What’s interesting is that Eleanor never stopped learning. At 69, she earned a Doctorate in Urban Education from Fordham University — proving that it’s never too late to chase dreams. Together, the couple remained active in Clark Atlanta University’s alumni association and later moved to Miami to be closer to their daughter, Angela, as per The Guardian.Still side by sideEven now, at 108, Lyle says he can hardly believe their marriage has made history. But his joy is simple and sincere, as he said in a video shared by LongeviQuest, “I’m happy to be here… We enjoy our time together, and we’ve done a lot of things together.”After 83 years, countless memories, and a lifetime of shared adventures, the Gittenses’ secret of a long marriage isn’t some grand mystery — it’s the power of quiet, consistent love.As Eleanor put it best, “We love each other.”
