Boston celebrates its longest-married couples — Gallery

Printed from: https://newbostonpost.com/2015/12/10/boston-celebrates-its-longest-married-couples/

BOSTON – Dressed to the nines, about 80 long-married Boston couples mingled in the esteemed Venetian Room at the Fairmont Copley Plaza hotel in Back Bay, where Mayor Marty Walsh feted them Thursday during the city’s 36th annual 50th Wedding Anniversary Celebration.

Serenaded by “Winiker Music,” led by Bo and Bill Winiker, some of the couples who have all been married for at least 50 years got up to dance between courses served for the luncheon. After the meal, Walsh formally toasted the guests, standing with Herman and Judith Chernoff, who have been hitched for 68 years – the longest of any couple there.

“We don’t know how to split up our dog, so we’ve decided to stay together,” joked Herman, 92, who recently relocated to West Roxbury from Brookline, where the couple lived for about 40 years. “Boston has a lot of goodies for the elders,” he said.

Thursday’s celebratory lunch is just one of them, and one Walsh said he particularly enjoys.

“It’s a way for us to thank them,” Walsh said of the participants. The longevity of their unions, he added, “shows an incredible commitment and the institution of marriage does work.”

For Carol and Anthony Fabiano of the North End, who have been married 50 years, the secret to staying together is to continue to do things with each other, even if obstacles arise.

“I believe if you love each other and you do things together both in sickness and in health, you’ll get along just great,” Carol said.

Matilda and Chaiban Maroun, who came to the U.S. from Lebanon in 1987, took a spin around the dance floor at the Fairmont.

“We love each other very much,” Matilda said, smiling. “We support each other and it doesn’t matter who does the work. It doesn’t matter – I forgive him.”

Bill and Fran Condaxis of West Roxbury, have been married for 63 years, attended the event for the first time after seeing it advertised in Boston Seniority magazine, published by the city.

“It’s easier to be married for 63 years if you go along with what she says,” Bill joked. To which Fran said that the secret to staying together is having a lot of humor.

“We did things together and we’re lucky to have found each other and it’s been proved here,” Fran said. Leaning in afterwards, Bill said: “We have always believed that the best is yet to come.”

The longest married couple, Herman and Judith Chernoff, married for 68 years, dance after cutting the cake. (NewBostonPost, photo by Beth Treffeisen)
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