Centenarians Lyle and Eleanor Gittens tied the knot on June 4, 1942.
NEED TO KNOW
- Lyle Gittens, 108, and his wife, Eleanor Gittens, 107, have shared 83 years of marriage.
- The couple has officially broken a Guinness World Record as the oldest married couple to ever exist.
- They are parents to three children — one son and two daughters — with their first born while Lyle was serving in World War II.
A Miami couple is celebrating a milestone few could imagine: the longest marriage ever recorded.
Lyle and Eleanor Gittens have not only become the oldest living married couple (by aggregate age) but also the oldest married couple ever (by aggregate age), according to Guinness World Records. The honor was announced on Wednesday, November 5, marking a remarkable testament to love, endurance, and companionship that has lasted more than eight decades.
LongeviQuest, a company that verifies and documents records of the world’s oldest people, sat down with the couple to uncover the secret to their lasting marriage. Their response was as simple as it was profound.
“We love each other,” Eleanor said in a November 4 interview.
“I love my wife,” Lyle added without hesitation.
The two first crossed paths while studying at Clark Atlanta University in Georgia. Lyle, then a standout basketball player later inducted into the university’s Men’s Basketball Hall of Fame, caught Eleanor’s eye on the court. Their connection deepened quickly, and by 1941 they were a couple.
A year later, on June 4, 1942, they married — beginning what would become one of the most extraordinary love stories ever recorded.
But their early years together were not without hardship. World War II had just begun, and Lyle was deployed to Italy with the U.S. Army’s 92nd Infantry Division. Back home, Eleanor was expecting their first child and uncertain whether her husband would return safely. The couple relied on letters to stay connected, though much of Lyle’s correspondence was censored by military mail clerks.
Fortunately, the two were reunited after the war, raising their three children — son Lyle Rogers, and daughters Angela and Ignae — in New York City. Both worked in government jobs, and even in their later years, they continued to pursue growth and learning. At age 69, Eleanor earned a doctorate in Urban Education from Fordham University, proving that her commitment to excellence extended far beyond the classroom.
In a 2022 interview with The Westside Gazette, Eleanor shared one lighthearted secret to their longevity: a daily martini. “We used to have a martini almost every evening,” she recalled with a smile — perhaps the couple’s shared ritual of relaxation and joy.
She also remembered how, barely a week after Lyle proposed, he was drafted into military service. He managed to secure a three-day pass from training at Georgia’s Fort Benning to attend their wedding in Bradenton, Florida — the very first time he met her family.
Today, the Gittens live in Miami, where they’re cared for by their daughter Angela and her cousin, Johnyta Roundtree. Though Lyle occasionally misses life in New York, he is grateful to be surrounded by family in his later years.
And while the martinis have long since been replaced, the couple continues a different daily tradition — sharing a Modelo beer at lunch, a quiet toast to a love that has endured the tests of time.
After 83 years of marriage, their message remains unchanged: love each other, stay together, and never forget to raise a glass to life.
