World's longest-married couple reveals key to a lasting relationship: We love each other'

"The Gittenses' heartwarming remarks about each other came as LongeviQuest's global validation commission used the pair's 1942 marriage certificate, US census entries and cross-referenced archival material spanning decades to confirm they are the longest-married couple in the world. A 4 November news article from LongeviQuest said the Gittenses assumed that title after the death in October of Brazil's Manoel Angelim Dino. Dino, 106, and his wife of 85 years Maria de Sousa Dino, 102 had been LongeviQuest's longest-married couple in the world since February."

"The Gittenses are the world's oldest ever married couple, too, with a combined age of more than 216, said LongeviQuest's article, which posited that the pair's love story is exceptional for having survived war and other hardships. Lyle and Eleanor Gittens first met in 1941 at a college basketball game that he played in for Clark Atlanta University and which she attended as a spectator. Eleanor told LongeviQuest that she couldn't remember whether Clark Atlanta or the historically Black university's crosstown rival Morehouse College won. All she remembered, she said, was that it was the first time she met Lyle, who was later inducted into the men's basketball hall of fame at Clark Atlanta."

"We love each other, Eleanor Gittens, 107, said to LongeviQuest when the website specializing on people who are in their second century of life asked what was the secret to her 83 years of marriage to her husband, Lyle. Meanwhile, 108-year-old Lyle Gittens's reply to that question was: I love my wife."

Eleanor Gittens, 107, and Lyle Gittens, 108, married on 4 June 1942 after meeting at a 1941 college basketball game. LongeviQuest's global validation commission confirmed their status using the 1942 marriage certificate, US census entries and archival material, and the pair assumed the longest-married title after the October death of Manoel Angelim Dino. The couple's combined age tops 216 years, making them the world's oldest ever married couple. The Gittenses credit mutual love for their 83-year marriage, with Eleanor saying, "We love each other," and Lyle saying, "I love my wife."

Read at www.theguardian.com