Two couples: a total of 115 Valentine’s Days

“Love and marriage, love and marriage, go together like a horse and carriage.” So go Sammy Cahn’s lyrics, and so go the lives of two special Elmont couples. Guy and Caroline Pennisi, who celebrated 65 years of marriage in January, and Isabel and Robert Coates, two lovebirds who whose marriage will mark 50 years this month, shared their stories with the Herald.

Clinton Hall, a popular dance venue in the 1940s in Brooklyn, New York, was the setting for Guy Pennisi to show off his dance moves to 18-year-old Caroline Pagano. She’d heard about Guy from her sister and when she was finally old enough to boogie-woogie with the rest of the gang, it was Guy who filled her dance card that night. After six months as steadies, Guy went into the United States Army as a medic. Two months later, on a three-day furlough from Germany, Guy and Caroline tied the knot at the St. Joseph’s Roman Catholic Church in Ridgewood.

Upon Guy’s Army discharge and the end of World War II, the pair occupied a coldwater flat in Brooklyn before buying their home in Elmont 10 years later — the warm and inviting home, adorned with photos and mementos, where they still reside. Guy worked as a New York City school teacher and, in his spare time, worked on the house, finishing the basement and attic; Caroline was a homemaker whose scrumptious meatballs and spaghetti sauce kept the marriage happy.

Italian cooking has long been a big part of life for Carolyn, who lost her mother at age 12 and became a surrogate mother and chef for her six siblings.

Soon after marrying, the Pennisis became the proud parents of a son and daughter, and Caroline worked at a knitting mill in Brooklyn during the family’s early years, in addition to taking care of her husband and children. She also worked at Abraham & Straus, a former department store in Hempstead.

The Pennisis’ children are now parents and grandparents themselves, blessing the couple with six grandchildren and five great-grandchildren, with whom Guy and Caroline love spending time. The couple also spend time together by watching Telecare, Catholic television, and frequently attending the Elmont Senior Center where, until recently, they presented dance exhibitions.