The Secrets
to a Long and
Happy Marriage
MARISSA STERN | JE STAFF
S So far, 2016 seems to be a bad year for love — at least if you’re a celebrity.

Who can forget the split of Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne? Liev Schreiber and Naomi Watts? Brad
and Angelina?
But never fear — while 2016 was marked with heartbreak in Hollywood, these Philadelphia-area
couples are here to remind those with even the most jaded and cynical of hearts that love does survive.

For these couples, this year marked major anniversary milestones, and they’re here to share their
secrets to a long and happy marriage. Hollywood, take note.

Alvin and Rae Foreman celebrated their 75th anniversary in Sep-
that we were married and
Alvin and Rae Foreman
tember in Naples, Fla., where they’ve lived for the past 14 years.

lived happily ever after.”
“We enjoyed our anniversary,” said Alvin Foreman, 98. “Our family
They were married at
took us out to a very nice restaurant, and we all enjoyed the evening.”
a temple in Philadelphia
He and Rae, nearing 97, met
when Alvin and a friend went to
“First of all, you have to understand
a party at Rae’s house — without
each other. You have to take the
knowing her.

“I heard they were having a
good with the bad, and sometimes
party at my wife’s house who
it’s best to just keep quiet.”
was not my wife then — I didn’t
even know her,” he recalled.

— ALVIN FOREMAN
Alvin added no one invited him
and his friend, but they asked to stay anyway.

and, 10 days later, Alvin
Rae, however, joked that’s putting it gently.

went into the Air Force, as he had
“He crashed my party; he made it sound nice,” she laughed.

been drafted.

That party eventually led to their first date and 75 years later,
He later became a master sergeant
they’re still happily together.

and Rae, an avid singer and former
“A couple weeks later I called her up for a date and everything
athlete, came down to Washington,
went on from there,” Alvin said. “I think about a year and a half after
D.C., to join him. They lived in a tiny
18 OCTOBER 27, 2016
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