I've changed this whole post from what it started out as.
82 years later, R.I. couple still holding hands
Union is world's longest-running
NORTH PROVIDENCE -- It began with a passing glance, then a second look.
"'She had on a white blouse, a blue skirt -- and legs. Wow! And legs," John Rocchio recalled of the first time he saw Emilia Antonelli in Providence in 1922. ''So I says to myself, 'I need to meet that broad.' "
And so he did. They fell in love and married. And they remain so today, 82 years later.....John, who is 101, and Emilia, who is 100, the longest-married couple in the world.
...The Rocchios offer no universal recipe for a long marriage, but they are not coy about what's made their own work.
''Making love," Emilia pronounced with gusto yesterday as she patted her husband's arm.
The two say they have rarely fought in their eight-plus decades together, save for disagreements over automobiles.
Their younger daughter, who is 78 and never married, lives with them.
''We're still holding hands," Emilia said.
The Rocchios were just 17 and 19 when they crossed paths outside John's uncle's laundry......
They went on their first date that night, and a few months later, on Feb. 10, 1923, they wed at St. Ann's in Providence....
But their children and grandchildren say it was Emilia who often called the shots in the marriage.''She made the big decisions," said daughter Ella Sarra, who is 81 and lives in Cranston.
They say there was one rocky period in their marriage. Back in the early days, John took a job at a printing press in New York. It was a prestigious post, and he wanted to give it a whirl. She stayed in Rhode Island and worried that he would leave her.
The arrangement lasted a week.
''I had to come home," John said. ''I missed her."
http://www.boston.comnews/local/rho...82_years_later_ri_couple_still_holding_hands/
82 years later, R.I. couple still holding hands
Union is world's longest-running
NORTH PROVIDENCE -- It began with a passing glance, then a second look.
"'She had on a white blouse, a blue skirt -- and legs. Wow! And legs," John Rocchio recalled of the first time he saw Emilia Antonelli in Providence in 1922. ''So I says to myself, 'I need to meet that broad.' "
And so he did. They fell in love and married. And they remain so today, 82 years later.....John, who is 101, and Emilia, who is 100, the longest-married couple in the world.
...The Rocchios offer no universal recipe for a long marriage, but they are not coy about what's made their own work.
''Making love," Emilia pronounced with gusto yesterday as she patted her husband's arm.
The two say they have rarely fought in their eight-plus decades together, save for disagreements over automobiles.
Their younger daughter, who is 78 and never married, lives with them.
''We're still holding hands," Emilia said.
The Rocchios were just 17 and 19 when they crossed paths outside John's uncle's laundry......
They went on their first date that night, and a few months later, on Feb. 10, 1923, they wed at St. Ann's in Providence....
But their children and grandchildren say it was Emilia who often called the shots in the marriage.''She made the big decisions," said daughter Ella Sarra, who is 81 and lives in Cranston.
They say there was one rocky period in their marriage. Back in the early days, John took a job at a printing press in New York. It was a prestigious post, and he wanted to give it a whirl. She stayed in Rhode Island and worried that he would leave her.
The arrangement lasted a week.
''I had to come home," John said. ''I missed her."
http://www.boston.comnews/local/rho...82_years_later_ri_couple_still_holding_hands/
:69: :kiss2: 
