…Newly Re-Weds

“He looked like the movie star Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.” gushed Esther Rabinowitz, showing off a sepia-toned photo of herself and husband Arthur, 85, taken the year they were married. “I was lucky to catch her,” he responded, as sweet on his bride as he was on that day, 68 years ago.
So the lovebirds renewed their vows, on the most romantic day of the year.
As part of Valentine’s Day festivities at Services Now for Adult Persons (SNAP), a senior center in Bellerose, nine couples who have been married for 50 years or more, once again agreed to love, honor and cherish each other.
Assemblymember Mark Weprin, who stood in as Justice of the Peace for the day, officiated. “Too many people today, too many relationships, expect marriage to be too easy,” Weprin told the crowd of attentive seniors.
The Rabinowitzes know from ups and downs. On their first date - a blind setup by a friend and a sister - they went to Coney Island and rode the famed Cyclone roller coaster.
“He was a nice guy. I didn’t realize how gorgeous he was until we went out on a date and people asked me, ‘Who is that good-looking guy you were with?’” said Esther, an 85-year-old dance teacher at SNAP.
After the ceremony, the couples received a congratulatory certificate from Weprin and a “wedding gift,” a sun catcher.
“There’s something special about making a commitment … In the end, it’s a beautiful thing,” he said adding, “You have to have respect for each other and care for each other.”
Ruth and Jim Cantiello have been doing just that for 61 years.
“We’re still smiling, still talking to each other,” said 82-year-old Ruth adding, “He leaves me romantic notes with x’es on the bottom.”
Jim, 84, replied “She used to write poems and put them in my lunch box.” With a sly glance he confided, “Sometimes I threw the food away, but I always kept the poems.”
So, was writing the secret to their longevity?
“That and she’s a belly dancer,” he laughed, as his Ruth flushed just a little. It seems she took up the mid-eastern dance form for exercise when she was 52-year-old.
They also go to a fitness center together three days a week.
“We do everything together. We still hold hands while we’re watching TV,” Ruth said.
Relative newlyweds after a mere 50 years, Rae and Irv Postman held hands in the hallway as they waited their turn to walk under the crinoline-decorated doorway into the ceremony.
The Glen Oaks couple met at a dance in the old Hotel Lexington in Manhattan. “He approached me, he asked me to dance, and that was it,” said 79-year-old Rae.
“Of course” said Irv, 75, when asked if he would marry his wife all over again. Then he joked, “I don’t know if I’m legally married now.”