Couples Married 50+ Years Tell All for Long Lasting Love

Cona Elder Law Hosts 27 Couples 
who have been Married for 50+ Years for a Valentine’s Dinner

“This was a great night to look forward to and such a wonderful event to look back on,” said Ivelisse Beja of Hicksville.  Zachary and Ivelisse Beja, who have been married for 66 years, were guests at Cona Elder Law’s first annual Valentine’s Dinner celebrating couples who have been married for 50 or more years.  
The sold-out event underwritten by Cona Elder Law was a celebration of long-lasting love. Couples shared their stories of how they met, from love at first sight to blind dates, and revealed their secrets for staying together so long.
“The evening was a celebration of love,” stated Jennifer Cona, founder and managing partner of Cona Elder Law.  “In our multigenerational elder law and estate planning practice, we help all kinds of families.  We wanted to take this Valentine’s Day to recognize and honor those who have made marriage work through good times and bad.”

Newsday :

Marie Filippi, 74, and her husband Jean Filippi, 80, were married in Port-au-Prince, Haiti in May 1966, but the Hicksville couple raised two children and called Long Island home for the past 41 years. They said their determination to overlook small issues and address the big ones together was the key to the success of their marriage.

“We make it work,” she said of their strategy to keep the marriage going. “We make everything work. Because we love each other, I understand him and he understands me, and so we don’t make a big deal out of anything.”

Norman Berkowitz, 91, and his wife, Jean, 86, now of East Meadow, were among the most experienced of the couples, having gotten married in 1953, lived in Levittown for some 64 years and raised three sons.  How do they do it? Like the others, they have learned to face life’s problems together no matter what. 

“The secret to staying married so long is to not grieve over everything,” Norman Berkowitz said. “Let life go by and roll with the punches. You can’t let anything overwhelm you. You have to love the other person more than you love yourself.”

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