After meeting on a blind date in 1958 and getting married two years later, Carole and Dennis Goldstein celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary last December at Valentino’s on the Green in Bayside.
The charity work participation and their two accomplished sons, Steven and Richard, are among the greatest achievements they share, said Carole.
The Goldsteins of Bayside devote their time to special needs people, having helped found the Lukas Community, a year round residential community for adults with developmental disabilities in the foothills of New Hampshire.
“We helped create a community and establish services and programs that were not available 30 years ago,” explained Carole.
The couple plays a major role as avid fundraisers for this community and they were also influential in closing down facilities for handicapped people that did not comply with standards.
“We are very proud of the work we have done together. It enabled so many children and adults to have a fruitful and dignified lifestyle,” said Carole.
Over the years, their relationship has been solidified through the work they do for the community.
“Our charity work – that’s the strongest bond between the both of us,” she added. “As we look over our lives together, we realize that our accomplishments needed both of us, as a team, to make things happen. Our 50th anniversary was a great celebration and it also gave us the opportunity to ask that all gifts go to the Lukus Community that is so dear to our hearts.”
At their anniversary, the Goldsteins invited four other couples, each married 50 years or more, to cut the cake; making it 262 years of marriage amongst the five couples.
The secret to relationship longevity, according to Carole, is to “believe in miracles; wait long enough, work at it and anything can happen.”
