Simple Pleasures Form Backbone of 64-Year Love Story

PEABODY —   “You’ve come this far, let’s see how much further you can go,” smiles 91-year old Irving Taub.

Irving and his wife, 93-year-old Edith, will be married 64 years on February 17. We sit in their tidy apartment at Woodbridge Assisted Living in Peabody and I can feel their love surround me like a flannel blanket.

“He’s my seeing eye dog,” says Edith, who suffers from macular degeneration. “Woof, woof,” jokes Irving.

I ask the couple how they met.

“My friend set us up on a date,” says Irving, who remembers Edith sitting on a rocking chair. Two years later he returned to the house where they met and Edith was sitting on the same rocking chair. (They report that she had actually left the chair over the course of two years.)

They began dating and then Irving joined the Navy. While he was away, his mother played Cupid and called Edith to come over and have supper and play cards. When Irving came back they got married on a snowy February day.

“We did things the simple way,” says Irving, who worked in the Navy shipyard as a naval engineer for 31 years.

“I love to doodle,” he smiles. He recalls doodling hand-made Valentine’s cards and anniversary cards. The couple lived in Revere for most of their lives raising their two children, Audrey and Howard.

“We liked to take long car rides together and enjoyed raising our family,” says Edith.

When the couple and their family decided they needed to move into an assisted living facility, they chose Woodbridge.

“It’s like a cruise ship here. No cooking, no cleaning, no shopping,” says Edith.

The couple enjoys exercising in the gym and various activities and excursions.

To what do they attribute their long-lasting love? They answer without hesitation.

“We talk to each other. We agree most of the time and we are comfortable with each other,” says Edith.

“We like simple pleasures,” he chimes in as they head off for a noontime meal. They smile and greet residents as they stroll into the dining room for lunch, happy to share an afternoon meal and each other’s company. It may seem just plain simple to Irving and Edith, but to the outside observer I’d call it simply lovely.

Stacey Marcus writes for Aviv, which includes Woodbridge Assisted Living.