Anne's father had arranged for her to marry a man twenty years her senior. To escape that fate, she eloped with the boy across the street. They drove from Connecticut to New York and got married. The family was appalled and said it wouldn't last. But that was in 1932, and John and Anne Betar are still married -81 years as of yesterday! That makes them the longest-married couple in America, a title they've held since last February. The couple, aged 102 and 98 years, are always being asked the secret of a happy marriage.
"Be content with what you have and what you're doing," says John.
"We have watched the world change together," he continues. "The key is to always agree with your wife."
Bingo! says Kiri Blakeley at The Stir. A long, happy marriage has "nothing to do with keeping the sex spicy or the dinner hot or the children quiet or the anti-depressants nearby (though those things don't hurt)." It has to do with the old maxim "Happy wife, happy life." John clearly has "magic 'agree with whatever my wife says' superpowers" — that, or he's simply "the smartest man on the planet."
That's not the only advice they have about making a marriage work for so long. Read more tidbits at The Week.