Couple celebrates 80th anniversary

A couple has spent a lifetime together and is celebrating the milestone.

Robert and Edith Mae Schaum were married on Dec. 26, 1942, and this week celebrated their 80th anniversary, Lancaster Online reported.

The couple met in high school in 1936. Their first date was to a Friday night football game in Donora, Pennsylvania, near Pittsburgh, driven to by his father, WGAL and Lancaster Online reported.

Robert Schaum went to college before getting a job in Illinois. Edith May stayed in Pennsylvania. The two wrote to each other over the years until they decided to get married. They set up their home in Illinois but only until Robert Schaum’s draft number was selected and he decided to take a commission in the Navy, deployed to the Pacific. Edith May stayed back with their son.

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They said they spent the first few years apart because of World War II, but they knew they would be back together someday.

“I felt sure he would come back. And I’m sure he felt he was going to come back too,” Edith Mae told the newspaper.

When Robert’s military stint was done, he came back and they had a daughter, living in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. The couple has been together since then, WGAL reported.

Robert calls his bride, “the best thing that ever happened to me. She’s friendly and loving, and an excellent partner.”

Lancaster County couple celebrates 80th anniversary https://t.co/EIsBrpxJlD
— WGAL (@WGAL) December 29, 2022

While the centenarians — both of them are 102 years old — have been married for longer than one would expect, they are not the world record holders for the longest marriage.

That honor goes to Herbert and Zelmyra Fisher who were married for more than 86 years, according to The Guinness World Records archive. They were married for 86 years and 290 days until the death of Herbert Fisher on Feb. 27, 2011.