World's Oldest Married Couple: 'You Have to Like the Person as Well as Love'

After 83 years of marriage and 215 years of combined life, Lyle and Eleanor Gittens hold the Guinness Record for the world's oldest living married couple. Their secret? Liking each other might be even more important than love.

In a StoryCorps interview recorded at their Miami home ahead of Valentine's weekend, Lyle Gittens, 108, and his wife Eleanor, 107, shared the love story that began in 1939 on a college campus—and has endured through eight decades of American history.

The Basketball Star and the "Goody Two-Shoes"

Eleanor remembers the moment she first noticed Lyle: "One night, I went to a basketball game where he was the star player. So I noticed him."

But it was Lyle who made the first move, using the slang of the era. "After that, he passed by me on the campus," Eleanor recalled. "And there was a saying at the time, 'you're my SP'—my secret passion. So he passed by me and said, 'you're my SP.'"

The pair began seeing each other on campus. Lyle loved to dance the Lindy—a swinging, energetic style popular in Harlem dance halls. Eleanor, not so much.

"I didn't know how to dance that way," she admitted during the interview.

Lyle's response, delivered with a playful grin after 83 years: "She's a goody two-shoes."

When their daughter Angela relayed the comment (Lyle's hearing has faded, so she repeated it), Eleanor laughed: "Well, that's what they all called me all my life."

The Panic Proposal

Their courtship continued through college, but marriage wasn't on Eleanor's immediate horizon. Then came graduation in 1941.

"She was in the graduating class," Lyle explained. "And it occurred to me that I would never see her again. I didn't want to lose this girl."

What happened next was born of pure emotion: "I sort of panicked, and with nothing to offer her, I asked her to marry me."

Eleanor's response changed both their lives: "She, to my great delight, said yes."

That was 83 years ago. Lyle, now 108, still marvels at it: "I've been lucky. I look upon us as the princess and the pauper. And the princess and the pauper prevail so far for 83 years."

The Secret to 83 Years Together

When their daughter Angela asked the question countless couples ask—"What is the secret to your marriage?"—Eleanor's answer was immediate and profound:

"I say you have to like the person as well as love. I think liking is even more important."

Lyle's answer was simpler, deeper: "There's really no secret. You just live. You live every day, and you become almost one person."

Eighty-three years of shared mornings, shared meals, shared challenges, shared joys. Two lives woven so tightly together that the boundary between "you" and "me" begins to blur.

The Proudest Achievement

When Angela asked her parents what their proudest achievement was, Lyle's response was instantaneous:

"You."

The laughter that followed—captured on the StoryCorps recording—is the sound of a family that has loved well.

Three Words That Still Matter

At the end of the interview, Angela asked if there was anything else her parents wanted to add.

Lyle spoke first: "Yeah. I love my wife."

Eleanor responded: "I love him."

After 83 years, it still needed to be said. And they still needed to hear it.

A Love Story for the Record Books

The Gittens' story is now archived in the Library of Congress through StoryCorps' Brightness in Black Project, ensuring their voices—and their wisdom—will endure for generations to come.

Their Guinness World Record is remarkable. But the real record they've set is this: 83 years of choosing each other, every single day.

In a world of fleeting connections and disposable relationships, Lyle and Eleanor Gittens are living proof that love—when paired with genuine liking, daily commitment, and a little bit of luck—can last a lifetime.

Or in their case, two lifetimes combined.