COLLIER COUNTY, Fla. (WINK)\u2014A Southwest Florida couple is proving love can stand the test of time after more than eight decades of marriage.<\/p>\n
Elle and Joe are both over 100 years old, still independent and still in love. WINK News anchor Gracie Fusco takes us inside their remarkable story.<\/p>\n
For most people, a lifetime of love is something to hope for. Elle and Joe have lived and loved for more than 80 years.<\/p>\n
“He said, ‘ Save the last dance for me, because you’re going to be my wife. And I said, Yeah, that’ll be the day. And look at me still with this man,” Eleanor said.<\/p>\n
That dance back in 1945 sparked a love story that’s still going strong today.<\/p>\n
“I saw this beautiful girl up there dancing, and I kept looking at her. I thought she was the prettiest girl at the dance,” Joseph said. “I looked at her. I say, she’s the one. She’s the one.”<\/p>\n
Now, more than eight decades later, they’re both over 100 years old and still living independently.<\/p>\n
“We feel great. I feel wonderful, and I’m proud of my age,” Eleanor said.<\/p>\n
From painting to playing the guitar and even golf, they haven’t slowed down much.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“I still do artwork. I still paint,” Eleanor said. “When you come into my house, there’s always music to be heard.”<\/p>\n
They built a big family along the way. Two children, four grandchildren, and eight great-grandchildren.<\/p>\n
“You know, I never thought of longevity, of being 100 years old,” Joseph said. “But I think it’s a little bit luck, a little bit of the Lord says, We’re not You’re not ready yet.”<\/p>\n
Their secret? They say it’s not just one thing.<\/p>\n
“It’s day by day, and thank Lord, another day, it’s another day,” Joseph said.<\/p>\n
If there’s one lesson they’ve learned after all these years, it’s to stay active.<\/p>\n
“Keep yourself active. I do my own cleaning instead of sitting around. This is exercise for me, washing windows, cleaning, bending down, up, and running the sweeper. Keep yourself busy,” Eleanor said.<\/p>\n
When it comes to love, Joseph’s advice is simple.<\/p>\n
“Just give her whatever she needs,” Joseph said.<\/p>\n
And above all, Eleanor emphasizes the importance of compassion.<\/p>\n
“You have a lot of love in your heart for yourselves and others,” Eleanor said.<\/p>\n
A love that started with one dance and never stopped.<\/p>\n
“We still love each other,” Eleanor said.<\/p>\n
The couple’s story proves that sometimes, the best stories really do last a lifetime.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"COLLIER COUNTY, Fla. (WINK)\u2014A Southwest Florida couple is proving love can stand the test of time after more…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":261261,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[209,211,210,3837,7353,325,115],"class_list":["post-261260","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral-headlines","tag-cape-coral-news","tag-collaborator_gen_stories","tag-collier","tag-lee","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261260","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=261260"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261260\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/261261"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=261260"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=261260"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=261260"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}