Roslyn couple celebrate 73 years of marriage

Seventy-three years of marriage seem only to have sharpened the spunky sense of humor that Mo and Jeannette Weledniger share.

When the head of the Roslyn senior residence where the Welednigers live said Monday that he was "absolutely dumbfounded by the number 73 years together," Jeannette, 95, delivered a dry one-liner - "so am I" - that drew chuckles from a crowd of well-wishers.

Family and dozens of neighbors surrounded the Welednigers at an anniversary party Monday at the Sterling Glen senior residence, where the couple was feted with a champagne toast and sheet cakes frosted with the messages: "Congratulations Mo and Jeannette" and "73 years of bliss."

Jeannette swiped a finger over a corner of one of the cakes for a taste of icing, saving another dab for her sweetheart's nose just when the cameras were pointed their way.

"He was one hell of a nice guy," Jeannette said about her first impression of Mo, whom she met as a teenager at a dance. So she let him bring her home on the trolley to Corona.

Mo, a dapper 96 years old, sporting a yellow cardigan, cut in to tell his side of the story: "I picked her up in front of the shul," he said, at the Maspeth Jewish Center.

Still, Mo had to work hard to woo her. A few times, early in their courtship, he dropped by her house unannounced, said Jeannette, and she had to sneak out of the downstairs door to meet for another date.

But it helped that her parents loved him. "He was like the son that my parents never had," said Jeannette, an only child.

The pair married on June 20, 1937, and moved to Little Neck, where they brought up a son and daughter, Richard, now 64, and Karen Stahl, now 59.

Besides their shared humor, each has contributed different qualities to the relationship over the years. While Mo has become "the romantic one," ready with a bouquet of roses or a flattering verse, Jeannette is known for her outgoing manner and her patience, "because he has none and she has a lot," Stahl joked.

Jeannette and Mo, who owned an auto-parts store in Corona, have spent the past three decades as snowbirds, living for half the year in Delray Beach, Fla.

Mo said the secret to a long-standing marriage is "togetherness, affection, love, helping one another."

Tips for a healthy, long marriage

To Mo Weledniger, 96, "the basis of love" is "always togetherness, affection" and "helping one another."

Jeanette Weledniger, 95, adds that a healthy dose of patience "didn't hurt either."

Most of all, they say, spunk and humor has sustained the couple.

"Our 73 years has been a blessing," said Jeanette. "I'd be silly and you wouldn't believe me if I told you that every year was perfect. [But] I'm one of the fortunate ones to have this guy with me."

The longevity of the Mo and Jeannette marriage puts them in a league of their own. Census officials say there is no reliable data on the duration of marriages contracted that long ago because the number of couples like the Welednigers is too small. But the census did tally figures in 2004 of men and women married from the 1950s through the 1990s. Those figures show that 61.4 percent of men and 54.7 percent of women who married between 1955 and 1959 were still going strong in 2004. For those who got married between 1960 and 1964, the percentage reaching the 40th anniversary milestone dropped to 52 percent for men and 44.9 percent for women.

- LAURA RIVERA