Hundreds of Brooklyn couples with more than 50 years of marriage under their belts were invited by Borough President Markowitz to drink, dine, and dance the day away for the 10th annual Brooklyn Sweethearts celebration at El Caribe Country Club in Mill Basin on Monday.
Markowitz kicked off the early Valentine’s Day event with a champagne toast, before sending the eager love-birds off to tare up the dance floor to the accompaniment of 1950s-era swing and love ballads. The festivities ended with the cutting of a wedding cake and the spouses indulging in other sugar-free confections.
During the festivities, a few loving couples managed to find time to renew their wedding vows, including Markowitz, whose birthday is actually on Feb. 14, and who met his wife, Jamie, in the summer of 1999 on the beach at Kingsborough College.
A few notable sweethearts present to celebrate their wedded bliss included:
• A Bay Ridge couple married for 70 years — he is 91 and still works, while she is 90, has recently purchased an iPad, and spends her evenings surfing the Web.
• A couple from Flatbush celebrating 68 years of marriage. They met at a dance and he asked her to marry him after he left to serve in the Army.
• A husband and wife from Sheepshead Bay who were married 63 years ago. She came to America with her sister and nephew — the rest of her family having been killed by the Nazis.
• A Crown Heights couple who met when they were just 15 years old; she told friends he would be her husband one day, and they laughed at her. Three years later — now 57 years ago — they married.
Reach reporter Colin MIxson at cmixson@cnglocal.com or by calling (718) 260-4514.
