Guinness: Pa. Pair Oldest Married Couple

Guinness: Pa. Pair Oldest Married Couple

By Associated Press

2 hours ago

PHILADELPHIA - Herbert Brown, 105, and his wife, Magda, 100, are the world's oldest married couple, according to the Guinness Book of World Records. The Browns' combined ages total 205 years and 293 days, which Guinness said makes them the oldest living married couple.

Other couples have been married longer, and some other individuals are older. In fact, on June 1, Guinness had named an English couple, Percy and Florence Arrowsmith, also 105 and 100 respectively, as the oldest.

The Browns proved they beat the Arrowsmiths by a few days, and then on June 13, Percy Arrowsmith died. Guinness has now certified that Herb and Magda Brown have the distinction.

Herbert Brown and the former Magda Fritz married in their native Austria in 1930. Their lives became dangerous when the Nazis came to power in 1938. Soldiers raided their home. Herb Brown survived time in a Nazi concentration camp, rescued by neighbors who raised money for his release, and was interrogated by the notorious Adolf Eichmann.

The couple fled to England, then came in 1940 to Philadelphia, where Magda worked as a seamstress and Herb worked at a factory sewing shoulder seams on tuxedos.

Their daughter, Trudie Solarz, documented their experiences on videotape for Steven Spielberg's Shoah Foundation.

Today, in assisted living at Harbor View apartments, Magda dresses by 6:30 a.m., with lipstick and pearls, and Herbert, despite fading hearing, is content.

"He doesn't talk much," Solarz said. "But that's nothing new. Mom never let him get a word in."

Betty Lowery, the assistant activity director at Harbor View, where the staff is planning a celebration, asked Magda her secret of longevity. "You have to be happy all the time," Magda says. "Think of life as you want it to be."

Information from: The Philadelphia Inquirer, http://www.philly.com

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