Since Tuesday, the longevous lovebirds — who have been married an astounding 83 years — have been taking questions about lasting love at @Handy, a handle of the online cleaning and DIY-services platform Handy.
John, 104, and Ann, 100, will be tweeting responses to those including #LongestLove on — when else? — Valentine’s Day.
“I’m so glad to be living through all this modern stuff,” Ann told Yahoo News, “because it’s an education to me! It’s something I knew nothing about … but through your children, your grandchildren, you learn an awful lot!”
Her husband added, “I’m just happy to be living, without pain. So nice, so lucky.”
Handy believes the Betars’ first-ever Twitter experience will yield wonderful tips for happy relationships.
“What better way to celebrate Valentine’s Day than to get insight from the oldest couple in America?” said Oisin Hanrahan, co-founder and CEO of Handy. “With 204 years of collective experience between them, John and Ann have so much wisdom to share. It’s inspiring to see that they have built and continue to maintain a happy home after all this time together.”
The “Tweethearts,” as Handy has dubbed them, weren’t supposed to be married at all. Ann’s father was planning an arranged marriage to a man 20 years her senior.
But Ann had already fallen for John, a neighbor who drove her to classes at Bridgeport’s Bassick High School each morning on the way to his fruit-peddling route in his swanky Ford Roadster.
So on Nov. 25, 1932, at just 21 and 17, they spirited away to Harrison, N.Y., and eloped.
John supported the family, running Betar’s Market on Bridgeport’s Broad Street until 1963, when he became a real estate agent. The couple raised five children in Fairfield, and went on to welcome 14 grandchildren and 16 great-grandchildren — and counting.
The Betars still live in Fairfield, and in February 2014 they were dubbed the "longest married couple in the United States" by The Worldwide Marriage Encounter, a Christian marriage enrichment program.
As a mark of thanks for their cooperation, Handy is making a donation to a charity of the couple’s choosing.
Tweet your questions for the Betars to @Handy including #LongestLove.
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