At 108 and 107, Lyle and Eleanor Gittens are the world’s oldest living married couple. They met at Clark Atlanta University, where Lyle whispered to Eleanor that she was his “SP” (college code for “Secret Passion”), and married on June 4, 1942. Asked how they stayed married so long, Lyle credits “Mutual love and support” and Eleanor adds, “You have to like the other person, not just love them.” Read Who Cares? about the struggle for dignity at Woodruff Home for the Aged, “a lively place where old people go to die.” Learn more about the book and its characters, aged 9-90, in NOVELS.
Liking, not just loving, each other since 1942
Woodruff Home for the Aged, a lively place where old people go to die
