April 6, 2018 at 1:53 p.m.
STATE RECORD
Longest-married couple dancing for 75 years
"I liked dancing with him," Mrs. Patrick told The Evangelist last week. "He became my steady boyfriend. We've been dancing ever since."
The idea to propose marriage "just came to me," Mr. Patrick said. The couple tied the knot at St. Patrick's Church in 1937. They couldn't afford a white dress.
Honorable mention
Now married for 75 years, the Patricks were recently honored as the longest continuously-married couple in New York State by Worldwide Marriage Encounter, a Catholic marriage enrichment organization.
The couple celebrated this month with some of their friends and family members - including five children, 15 grandchildren, 29 great-grandchildren and one great-great-grandchild - at Van Rensselaer Manor in Troy, where they've both lived for a year.
No big deal
People have made a fuss over the longevity of their union, but Mr. and Mrs. Patrick, respectively ages 95 and 96, are nonchalant.
When asked about the secret to a long and happy marriage, Mrs. Patrick quipped, "Sometimes I wonder. He didn't hear that, did he?"
Mr. Patrick shrugged: "We're just quite used to it, that's all."
Their children know it's more than simple familiarity that has kept their parents together. The only quarrels in the family, they say, occurred between Mr. Patrick and his boys. Mrs. Patrick was also visibly devoted to her husband as their family grew up.
"He was number one, and we were number two," said son Robert Patrick Sr.
"My mother always took good care of my father," added daughter Mary Anne Teta. "He's never been in a shopping mall. He's never used a washing machine or a dishwasher."
Mrs. Patrick still watches over Mr. Patrick.
"Sometimes, she goes downstairs to do crafts, but she doesn't like to leave him for too long," Mrs. Teta said. "She's afraid he'll get lost." When they spent a week apart within the nursing home, he frequently went astray searching for her.
Remember when
When they were younger, Mr. Patrick helped with cooking and did repairs and remodeling on their many homes.
"And he takes care of me. He eats my candy," said Mrs. Patrick, a diabetic.
Mr. Patrick ran a boring mill for General Electric for 29 years and served in the Army for a brief period, having been drafted right as World War II was ending. Mrs. Patrick worked in a YWCA cafeteria, a Montgomery Ward store and several other companies.
"He worked the afternoon shift every day from 4 to 12," Robert Patrick said. "She would stay up waiting for him every night, and they had a beer and a sandwich."
They indulged each others' hobbies - Mr. Patrick's golf and betting on horses and Mrs. Patrick's gardening and crocheting - and made sure they went dancing, bowling and dining out together. When their children were grown, they spent winters in Florida.
Today, the children laugh when they recall how their father annoyed their mother with his picky eating habits and demands for lists of ingredients. Mrs. Patrick lost her cool one day when her husband painstakingly inspected the vanilla bean specks in his ice cream.
"What are these things?" he asked.
"Rat poison!" she fumed. "Eat it!"
In harmony
But, Mrs. Teta swore, "if they had any kind of a disagreement, it never lasted."
She credits the harmony - which spilled into the siblings' relationships, too - to the family's Catholic faith: "It's kept us all together. It's made us respect each other. We would never stay mad very long."
All five children have been married only once. Mrs. Teta almost made it to her 50th anniversary with her late husband.
For the nonagenarian lovebirds, life is "pretty good" in their golden years, Mrs. Patrick said. "We're still here."
Does she still love him?
"Yeah, I guess so," Mrs. Patrick said.
Why?
Mr. Patrick interjected, "Because I'm handsome."[[In-content Ad]]
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