A Long Island couple married for 72 years shared their secrets for long-lasting love as they renewed their wedding vows this Valentine’s Day.
Ninety-one-year-old Alice and his wife Morty Steinberg, 93 exchanged vows yet again and committed to staying married at their new home in Encore Luxury Living at the Jericho Turnpike on Feb. 14, 2023. Morty and Alice actually met at a Valentine’s Day party in their Bronx neighborhood in 1948. A few years later, they married at the Paramount Caterers in Washington Heights on February 4th, 1951.
The Steinbergs’ seven decades of marriage were blessed with a son and two daughters, who gave them six grandkids and nine great-grandchildren. According to the couple, they’ve had such a long-lasting relationship because they consider each other best friends.
Morty recalled seeing Alice with her mother for the very first time at a deli in the Bronx when he was just 8. Years later, he found out that Alice lived just a block away from him but they only spoke to each other once meeting again at a Valentine’s Day party.
When seeing Alice at that party, Morty knew he wouldn’t need to look at another woman anymore. After Valentine’s night, the two went on their first date at the movies. Since then, their love story blossomed into a blissful marriage. Morty and Alice’s marriage proves that love is not dead.
Morty told ABCNY7 that his marriage to Alice has had many phases but they made sure to grow together, not apart, as husband and wife. Alice said that happy couples thrive if they are growing as individuals but still willing to “blend together” as partners.
The happy couple stayed in Queens in the early years of their marriage until they moved to Jericho and built their lives there for nearly four decades. Morty provided for his wife and kids by opening a commercial sign business, which was in operation for 39 years until his retirement in 2022. Meanwhile, Alice worked as a kindergarten music teacher.
In June 2022, Morty And Alice opened another chapter of their life together as husband and wife by moving into a retirement facility. The couple feel blessed that they could still live together while a lot of their friends have lost their spouses or passed away.
“We’re best friends now. Seventy-two years is a long time,” Alice said via CBS News.
According to Alice, the basic ingredient of their long-lasting marriage is love but they also do not let the little things upset their marriage.
“You have to have love, the basic, and then you have to look away for a lot of things,” Alice told Eyewitness News ABC7NY. “Sometimes you have to write little love notes,” the bride added with Morty agreeing with her 100%.
One of their daughters also said that their parents’ marriage lasted this long because their father listens to their mother all the time.
