Attention newlyweds: looking for inspiration as you begin your life's journey together? Serious about your vows, especially the part about "for better or worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and health, for as long as you both shall live?" Determined not to add to the ugly statistic of more than 50 percent of marriages ending in divorce?
Well, have I got a couple of role models for you. Meet my friends Gilbert and Loretta Hoffman of Timonium, who just celebrated their golden wedding anniversary. Think about that, newlyweds: 50 years of marriage.
Today we have marriages that last about 50 hours. Britney Spears, she got liquored up and hitched in a Las Vegas wedding chapel to a guy she knew since childhood, and the marriage lasted two days! Her hangover lasted longer.
But Gil Hoffman, fresh out of the Army and working for his family's awning business, and Loretta Barczak, a stenographer for a casualty company, were married at St. Casimir Church in Canton in 1957, back when Eisenhower was president, gas cost 24 cents a gallon, the Russians launched Sputnik I to usher in the Space Age and Elvis Presley bought a little spread in Memphis, Tenn., called Graceland.
And over the next 50 years, through all the ups and downs, they raised four kids and doted on 12 grandchildren, cultivated a small army of friends, watched Gil's law career flourish and helped so many people with their selfless nature and charity work that it's impossible to measure. So last week, to celebrate such a rich life, they renewed their wedding vows at a Mass at Immaculate Conception Church in Towson and threw a party for more than 90 friends and family members at Liberatore's restaurant in Timonium. There was food and wine and laughter.
Gil recalled how at their wedding reception back in '57, Loretta fell down while dancing with her brother, Edward, a physician, and hit her head on the dance floor. Dr. Barczak examined her and determined she had suffered a concussion.
"Make sure you wake her up every hour tonight," the doctor told Gil. "I don't think that'll be a problem," Gil replied with a sly grin. If it's true opposites attract, Loretta, now 69, and Gil, 73 and retired, were a classic case.
"He's a jokester, a sports fan," Loretta says. "He makes light of things that I consider important." She admits to a more serious side, loves classical music and art museums.
But what binds them, both say, is their deep Catholic faith and conservative values. Oh, and they both love eating steamed crabs - Gil's nickname is Captain Crab - and playing Scrabble. Find out more about clinical trials that are currently recruiting participants.
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