65 years of wedding bliss — and compromise

Lynbrook residents Meyer and Annette Lipshitz said that the secret to a successful marriage is mutual respect. “You treat the person the way you want to be treated,” said Annette, 82. “Our patents taught us that.”

Her husband, Meyer, 87, said that he respects his wife of 65 years because of what she has accomplished. Annette started at Nassau Community College as a student in the early 1950s, and worked her way up to being a full professor, teaching biology. She retired in 1985 and is a professor emeritus.

“Nothing was ever neglected — I don’t know how she did it!”

Friends and staff at the Atria Assisted Living in Lynbrook put the word out about the couple’s milestone anniversary and feted them with a party in their honor.

Meyer was a professional music engraver and a clarinet player since the age of 9 — he even played in Carnegie Hall when he was only 16. He and Annette met through a mutual friend. He lived in Brighton Beach, she is Manhattan. Their friend had a bungalow rental near Meyer. He was drafted into the military just two months after he graduated from Abraham Lincoln High School in Brooklyn, but they didn’t meet until a week after he came out of the service.

They had three daughters — Marion, Ellen and Fern — and moved to Plainview in 1954, where they lived for 40 years. “It was the American dream,” Meyer said. After retirement, the Lipshitz loved to travel in their camper. “We spent three weeks out west, visiting the National Parks,” he said. They eventually retired to a little place on the border of Texas, where they became active in the goings on of their community. Annette was on the board of the Rio Grande bank and wrote its comprehensive newsletter; Meyer played with clarinet, saxophone and drums with nine different bands, including in with the University of Texas and different Dixieland, jazz and wind symphony bands. Annette came to all of his performances. “She was like a member of the band!’ Meyer joked.

The Lipshitz said that they make every decision together — and they have learned the art of compromise. “We’re only human,” Annette said. “There will always be things we don’t agree on, but we do it together.”