The oldest combined age of a newly wedded couple is 194, according to Guinness World Records. That happened when Englanders George Kirby and Doreen Luckie were married at 103 and 91, respectively, in 2015.
But on May 19 at the Fountain View at Logan Square, 100-year-old Bernard Littman and 102-year-old Marjorie Fiterman tied the knot under a chuppah.
Rabbi Adam Wohlberg of Temple Sinai in Dresher, Littman’s longtime synagogue, officiated. A small group of guests attended at the continuing care retirement community in Philadelphia: Fiterman’s friend Amy Steerman; Littman’s daughter and son-in-law Myrna and Mitch Josephs; Littman’s son and daughter-in-law Gary and Meryl Littman; Littman’s granddaughter Amanda Prine and her husband Marc Prine, their daughters Eden, Golda and Shoshana; and Littman’s granddaughter Sarah Sicherman.
The couple had dated for 10 years, according to Littman. They met at the Fountain View (formerly the Watermark). His wife of 65 years — Bernice Littman — died in 2012 at 88. Marjorie’s longtime husband — Dr. Morris Fiterman — died in 1999 at 98.
The centenarians could have just spent the rest of their lives as companions. They decided to get married after Fiterman took a fall and broke her leg about a month ago. She suggested it. He said, “That’s great.”
“Basically, life’s short, let’s do this,” Myrna Josephs said.
But really, they decided to get married because, as Littman put it, “it’s just true love.”
“She’s a lovely, sweet, charming, affectionate girl,” Littman said of Fiterman. “A delightful person.”
“I love Bernie,” Fiterman added.
“It makes it official,” Littman concluded.
How They Met
Littman and Fiterman don’t remember the exact moment they met. They just lived in the same place, and it happened.
The husband and wife live independently, according to Myrna Josephs. But there is a common place to eat. That’s probably where it happened.
“They were just friends,” Myrna Josephs said.
Quality Time
Littman and Fiterman met when they were in their 90s and living in a continuing care retirement community. While their love might have been pure, their legs were less so. Both are now in wheelchairs.
Their activities consist of watching TV and eating dinner together. They do each one every day and night.
Littman said they like to watch news broadcasts together. Myrna Josephs said they are aligned politically (both are Democrats), which helps.
“They just hold hands and sit and watch TV or go to dinner together. They’re just real good buddies,” Myrna Josephs said.
Getting Married
For both centenarians, finances are in good shape, according to Myrna Josephs. Fiterman has a lawyer and friend who takes care of her stuff, and Littman has two kids, four grandkids and nine great-grandchildren.
They don’t need each other. They just want each other.
Littman thought the wedding was such a good idea that he got on the computer and figured out the fastest county in Pennsylvania in which he could get a license. Allegheny County, best known for Pittsburgh, allowed them to do it on Microsoft Teams.
They connected with the county official, got the license and called the rabbi. Wohlberg said, “Let’s make a minyan,” so they brought in the two granddaughters.
Wohlberg has been Temple Sinai’s spiritual leader for 22 years and an ordained rabbi for 29.
“This is a first for me as a rabbi,” he said. “Most of the time, the people I marry are in their 20s, possibly their 30s. It’s very much atypical to be officiating at a wedding for people who are centenarians.”
Littman was born on Feb. 13, 1924, in Philadelphia. He married Bernice Littman in 1947 after returning from a stint in the Navy. They had known each other growing up in Philadelphia’s Logan section, had their first child, Gary, in Mount Airy and later moved to Jenkintown as empty nesters. He worked as an engineer.
Fiterman was born on Nov. 26, 1921, in Indianapolis. She never had children. She lived for three years in Japan as an officer’s wife, and the couple traveled all over together. She worked as a teacher and earned her master’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania.
“I thought that this would be a really special occasion for people who have experienced a lifetime of occasions, joys and sorrows, and now have in a wonderful and beautiful fashion found love with each other,” Wohlberg said. “You’re never too old to find love with someone. When two people are in love, no matter what their age or how old they are, formalizing that love with a wedding ceremony is a real possibility and something that all people should have the opportunity to enjoy.”
