Lasting Love Still Exists

By Erin Coggins | Living 50 Plus

Imagine a young G.I recently returned from Europe. He is getting back in the swing of things, attending Drexel University working on a degree in electrical engineering. He spends his time doing things college students did in the 1940s, going on hayrides, bowling and looking for his version of actress Elizabeth Taylor.

He finds her. Their first date was a customary, Pennsylvania hayride. They were not exclusive, though. He asks her out for a New Year’s date. But she has another date that evening and keeping promises is important to her. So, they make a date for the next day.

And so began a love story that led to a 75-year marriage for Howard and Diane Polin.

“I didn’t get to go out with her on that New Years, but I said to her,” Since you are so hard to get, how about if we make a date for the next New Year’s.” So, I booked that New Year’s date a year in advance,” Howard said. “That was 1949.”

On June 11, 1949, Howard gave Diane an orchid with an engagement ring dangling from a string attached to it. The couple married on Jan. 1, 1950, a day chosen by Howard because he likes even numbers and knew the date would be an easy one to remember. The giving of an orchid is a gesture that he has continued on every anniversary for the past 75 years.

“I have given her 76 orchids. One of them was a gold, orchid pendant that she can have forever,” Howard said.

The young couple, Howard was 26 years old, and Diane was 20, lived in Philadelphia. Howard says Diane’s parents took a liking to him immediately. Diane agreed.

“Her name was Rose, but Howard called her Rosie. She loved him and Daddy did, too,” Diane said. “My folks wouldn’t let me say no when he asked me out. I’m just teasing. He was handsome, tall with thick black hair.”

The couple were married by a rabbi at the Ambassador Hall on North Broad Street in Philadelphia. Howard says it was a true Jewish wedding. Diane’s father, a specialized shoe salesman, offered Howard $5,000 or he would give his daughter a nice wedding.

“He made a pretty good salary and that year he had a take home bonus of $5,000. And he made a salary of $5,000. And if you made $10,000 a year at that time, you were making a lot of money,” Howard said. “The only stipulation he had for paying for the wedding was that he would make all the decisions. Inwardly I would have liked to have had the money, but I knew she wanted the wedding.”

He was right. Diane wanted the wedding.

“Everything excited me in those days. Everything. It was a lovely wedding and Howard loved it, too,” Diane said.

Howard, a meteorologist with the 8th Air Force 352nd Fighter Group, served in England during the war and had been saving up his military pay for a grand honeymoon even before he met his wife-to-be. When it came time to choose a honeymoon destination, he wanted to be close to England. He understood the British pound. The two honeymooned in Bermuda, traveling to the island on the Queen of Bermuda. They spent a week at the Buena Vista Hotel and traveled around the island on bicycles. They returned to the United States via New York City where they capped off their honeymoon with a two-night stay at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel before returning to Philadelphia.

“While we were on the ship, guys would sit around the table and go after Diane and push me aside,” Howard said. “She was beautiful. When it came to the Waldorf, I reserved the cheapest room they had.”

For their first two years of marriage, the couple lived at Diane’s parents’ home while Howard saved up the money to purchase their own home. At the time, row houses were popping up all over Philadelphia. Howard says that was the cheapest one he could get at the time.

“The houses started around $10,000. So, we went shopping for a house and we picked one of the row houses. I made an offer of $9,999 and I was told no, it had to be $10,000,” Howard said. “So, we ended up paying $10,000 which cost me approximately $50 a month for the carrying charges, the interest and the principal.”

The address was 7124 Large St. The couple lived in Philadelphia for 10 years before Howard accepted a job at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville and they purchased a home on 900 Fagan Springs Dr. Sixty-five years later, the couple still resides at this address.

They raised three children in this home, Arthur, Glen and Arlene. Howard jokes that all of his children are now old enough to be on Social Security while he was one of the first to receive his social security number when President Franklin D. Roosevelt established the program in the 1930s.

“I just loved ‘40s music. Glenn Miller was my favorite and then there was Artie Shaw and the clarinet and those names were in my mind to name my sons and Diane agreed with them,” Howard said.

The couple has five granddaughters and 11 great grandchildren. A portrait of the entire family hangs prominently over the couple’s fireplace just right of four shelves packed full of photo albums.

Howard says one of the secrets to a 75-year marriage is their time traveling together. They have traveled around the world a couple of times, including various exotic places.

“The albums are a testament to the trips we have made all over the world,” Howard said. “We also have our wedding album, and I have my war room full of mementos. In that room, I keep a picture frame with Liz Taylor on one side and Diane on the other.”

Their home reflects their love for one another and their years of living life. Howard says their daughter often refers to the home as the Museum of Polin. Family photos decorate every wall, souvenirs from various vacations are visible, WWII planes hang from the ceiling, a Shaloom banner hangs from the bookshelf, their daughter’s room still contains her dolls and remnants of the 75th anniversary celebration, including the specially created mug blazing Happy 75th that Howard had made for Diane, adorning the kitchen. It’s obvious that the Polins love their anniversary celebrations.

But maybe one of the most memorable anniversaries came in 2000 when the couple celebrated 50 years. Diane wrote the Waldorf Astoria Hotel prior to their 50th anniversary explaining that she and Howard were going to renew their vows and relive their honeymoon to Bermuda. Having kept the original receipt from their stay in 1950, she mentioned that it might be fun to stay at the Waldorf again for the same low price of $11.55.

The Waldorf agreed.

“It was nice. They gave us our old room to be romantic,” Howard said. “And they served us chocolate covered strawberries, a bottle of champagne and dinner on the house.”

The two, ages 100 and 94, move a little slower, forget some things and need each other in different ways these days, but they still hold hands, laugh at each other, give those meaningful gazes and make each other laugh and smile. And Howard still signs her anniversary cards with “your loverboy.”

Diane says they rarely have spats and if they do, they don’t last long. Howard says they just kiss and make up. He credits their life together with simple living and being nice to one another. He teases and says their 75 years of marriage survived because he listens to everything she tells him to do and then does as he damn well pleases.

“Well, I don’t think it would be as sweet and wonderful as it has been if we just weren’t lucky. We have always said to anybody we talk to that we’re very lucky,” Howard said. “Not lucky in just longevity, but lucky to be with each other and to respect each other.”

But to those looking in, Howard and his Liz Taylor are still lucky in love.