February 6, 2015 (Canandaigua, NY) ─ Valentine’s Day is a holiday for lovers – whether they be young couples just beginning to date, newlyweds enjoying the freshness of marriage, or these couples from Horizons, a DePaul Senior Living Community, whose marriages stood the test of time!

Brad and Ruth Stanton, 62 years

 

        

Ruth and Brad Stanton met at Geneseo College. Ruth was a senior when she noticed a new student who enrolled mid-semester.

Brad had been serving as an intercept radio operator in the United States Air Force during the Korean War. When the war ended in the fall of 1952, Brad enrolled in college.

Growing up in Hornell, Ruth was curious about the new student who was from nearby Wayland, New York. She arranged for a classmate to set them up on a date and the two went to the Section 5 basketball game at the War Memorial in Rochester on March 27, 1953.

On their third date, Brad told Ruth he would marry her someday.

“I’ll see,” she responded.

Ruth graduated in June and took a job at Canandaigua Elementary School while Brad continued his schooling, commuting back and forth from Geneseo to Canandaigua. The couple married nine months after their first date in December 19, 1953 in Hornell. After they married, the Stantons relocated to Canandaigua with Ruth becoming a homemaker and Brad teaching secondary education in the Canandaigua School System.

The couple has three children, six grandchildren, one of which has passed away, and six great-grandchildren, two of which are sets of twins. Residents at Horizons, a DePaul Senior Living Community since 2012, Brad said the formula for a happy and successful marriage is communication, honesty, friendship and respect for one another.

“I was taught by my mother that women are special and deserve to be treated as such,” said Brad.

Paul and Helen Guadagna, 59 years

 

     

Residents of Horizons for one year, Paul and Helen Guadagna grew up in Buffalo, New York, unknowingly just three blocks away from one another.

It wasn’t until 1949 at Helen’s 8th grade graduation party that they finally met.

“It was love at first sight,” said Helen.

Paul proposed in June of 1955. He brought over a box filled with potatoes and a ring box buried inside. Paul gave Helen his mother’s wedding and engagement ring. They married in September. For their 25th anniversary, the couple bought themselves wedding rings and had their engagement ring turned into a cross which they gave their son for his 25th birthday. The cross has now been passed on to their grandson. The couple also has two great-grandchildren.

Paul worked for Harrison Radiator for 30 years and Helen worked at W.T. Grants, eventually working her way to be manager of the pet department. Married 60 years this September, the couple said the secret to a long marriage is to “try to work things out and do things together.”

For more information about Horizons, please contact Administrator Stacie Major (585) 396-3390 or visit us on Facebook.