The oldest newlyweds in the world live in Philly
The 101 and 103-year-old were drawn together partly because they “both still had all their faculties and were able to move around.”
Bernie Littman and Marjorie Fiterman met in 2014, at their senior living facility’s costume party in Logan Square. Littman, a former engineer who tutored middle schoolers in math to keep his mind sharp, and Fiterman, a retired teacher, were drawn to each other. Both were intellectually curious, with degrees from the University of Pennsylvania, and both participated in plays and social activities at Fountain View, the Logan Square retirement center where they live.
There were also the practicalities of love later in life.
“They both still had all their faculties and were able to move around,” said Sarah Sicherman, 40, Littman’s granddaughter. “They could go to museums in Philadelphia when they were younger — in their nineties.”
In May, Littman and Fiterman married in a small ceremony in Fountain View’s newly renovated piano bar, and this month Guinness World Records officially recognized them as the oldest newlyweds in the world, with a combined age of 202 years and 271 days at the time of marriage.
Fiterman just turned 103 last month, and Littman will turn 101 in February. (Sicherman declined an interview request on the couple’s behalf, citing their advanced age.)
Rabbi Adam Wohlberg, who leads the Temple Sinai congregation in Montgomery County, where Littman is a longtime member, officiated. There was no procession, but otherwise the ceremony was a traditional Jewish wedding: the couple sat in wheelchairs beneath a huppah, the wedding canopy, and signed a ketubah, a Jewish marriage contract.
Before it ended, Littman, dressed in a tweed jacket with tan suspenders and a white rose pinned to his lapel, gripped the sides of his wheelchair and stood to break a glass, the final act in a traditional Jewish wedding. Sicherman said Littman had practiced the moment to make sure it would go smoothly.
“Mazel Tov!” his family shouted as he settled back down.
Both Littman and Fiterman previously had longtime spouses who died, according to the Jewish Exponent, which covered the wedding.
Kelly Reilly, the executive director of Fountain View, said it’s not uncommon that residents find love when they’re living together and spending time with the same people every day. There is another Fountain View couple that is currently engaged and planning to marry in the next few months, she said.
“I’m setting a new quota for myself: one wedding a year here,” Reilly joked.
Sicherman wasn’t sure why her grandfather and his girlfriend of a decade decided to marry instead of simply remaining as companions. Fiterman recently fell and broke her wrist, and when she recovered, Littman decided it was time, Sicherman said. They were also traditionalists, and still living separately.
“To live together, I assume they felt that it was necessary to be married, husband and wife,” said Rabbi Wohlberg.
The family decided to mark the occasion by applying for the Guinness World Record; Littman and Fiterman beat the previous record holders, George Kirby and Doreen Luckie of England, by a few years.
The process required the family to submit both Littman’s and Fiterman’s original birth certificates, which took a few months to track down. To legally marry in May, Fiterman had to get a new ID card. She went to PennDot, where the other Philadelphians graciously allowed the 102-year-old to skip the line.
In early December, Guinness World Record confirmed the couple’s record.
Since the wedding, the newlyweds have moved into the same apartment together, Sicherman said. Other than that, not much has changed — they watch the news, eat in the dining room, and hang out.
“They’re both doing well,” Rabbi Wohlberg said, “and are very happy to be married.”