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
SIMCHAS JEWISHEXPONENT.COM




apartment in Maryland for a few years and made many Jewish
friends, Alvin recalled.

“We used to meet every Saturday night in each other’s home,”
Rae remembered. “It was like a hole in the wall — one big room,
living room and kitchen and everything all in one room, then a very
small bathroom. The bedroom was even worse.

“I don’t know how we did it all those years,” she laughed.

They later made their way back to Philadelphia and lived in the
Northeast before moving to Florida where their son, daughter-in-
law and grandchildren live.

For their 75th anniversary, they received a card from President
Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama congratulating them
on their anniversary, which Rae framed and suspects was the result
of some online magic by their son.

For Alvin, the secret to a long marriage is understanding.

“First of all, you have to understand each other. You have to take
the good with the bad, and sometimes it’s best to just keep quiet —
I’ve found that out,” he chuckled.

For some couples, long-term love has taken them overseas.

Rona and Aaron Michelson celebrated their 50th wedding anniver-
sary in July with their children and grandchildren in Modi’in, Israel.

Rona Michelson grew up in Philadelphia and met her future hus-
band while the two were both at Camp Ramah in the Poconos in
1961. Rona was a camper and Aaron was a counselor.

“We were just friends and after camp we wrote letters until one
day he wrote me that he got engaged and so I stopped writing,” Rona
Michelson recalled via email. “A couple of years later, I saw that he
had been assigned as a chaplain to Fort Knox, Kentucky, so I wrote
him a letter and said, ‘Hi,’ assuming he was already married with
Rona and
Aaron Michelson
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