Oldest married couple ever share their sweet love story 83 years after saying 'I do'
An American couple who met over 80 years ago have officially broken records with their love story.
Lyle and Eleanor Gittens (USA) were students at Clark Atlanta University when they first coupled up in 1941.
They had no doubt they were meant to be together and married the following year.
Now, with a combined age of 216 years and 132 days (he’s 108 and she’s 107), they are not only the oldest living married couple (aggregate age), but also the oldest married couple ever (aggregate age).
Their records were confirmed by human longevity experts LongeviQuest.
Back when they first met, Lyle was on his college basketball team and Eleanor had gone along to a game to cheer them on.
As the couple were interviewed by LongeviQuest, Eleanor admitted she couldn’t remember what happened in that game, only that it was where she first saw Lyle.
The couple went on to schedule their wedding day despite knowing that Lyle would likely be drafted for World War II.
They tied the knot on 4 June 1942, when Lyle was granted a three-day pass from training, meaning they celebrated their 83rd wedding anniversary this year.
That means they also qualify for the record for longest marriage for a living couple (different sexes).
That title was held by Manoel Angelim Dino and his wife Maria de Sousa Dino (Brazil) until Manoel passed away last month.
Lyle and Eleanor’s wedding was a happy occasion, of course, and the first time he had met her family.
But she recalled in an interview with The Westside Gazette a few years ago how he went back to his service and she was left wondering if she would ever see her husband again.
Lyle was sent to Italy to serve with his Army unit, the 92nd Infantry Division.
By this time, Eleanor was already pregnant with their first child. She moved to New York City, where she met Lyle’s family for the first time.
Lyle and Eleanor on their wedding day
Read more stories about the world’s oldest people in our Human Body section.
She got a job working in payroll for an aircraft parts company and stayed in touch with her love by writing him letters.
Unfortunately though, the letters were heavily censored by military mail clerks and most of Lyle’s words to Eleanor were redacted.
When the war was over, Lyle and Eleanor could finally build their life together.
They settled down in New York City, and welcomed daughters Angela and Ignae, younger sisters for their son Lyle Rogers, who arrived during the war.
The couple later got government jobs after taking the New York civil service exam, and they loved working together.
Lyle and Eleanor with their daughter Angela
Eleanor went on to earn a doctorate in Urban Education from Fordham University when she was 69, and they both remained active members of the Clark Atlanta University Alumni Association for decades.
After they both entered their centenarian years, their daughter Angela moved them to Miami to live close to her.
Lyle misses his beloved New York, but they are happy together in Miami.
Lyle and Eleanor with Angela and Ben Meyers from LongeviQuest
When LongeviQuest’s Ben Meyers asked them to share their secret to such a long and happy marriage, Eleanor said: “We love each other.”
And Lyle answered simply: “I love my wife.”
Pictures courtesy of LongeviQuest and the Gittens family