Ninety-seven-year-old couple celebrating 78th wedding anniversary in West Orange County

A 97-year-old couple is celebrating their 78th wedding anniversary in West Orange County this week.

Ralph and Nora Caparoula Robinson are visiting their daughter, Marcia Praysner, in Ocoee to celebrate their anniversary Friday, Jan. 19.

When asked about the secret to a long marriage, the couple said: “We never went home to momma, good friends, good times, be honest with each other, and care for each other through good times and bad.”

LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT

The pair met when they were only 14 years old. 

Ralph worked in a local market owner by his sister and brother-in-law.

Nora lived close to the store and would ask her mother if she needed any bread, just so she could go and see Ralph, knowing full well that her mother baked all of their bread. 

When Ralph graduated from high school, he joined the United States Army during WWII and went to Japan.

Courtesy photo

On his return a few months later, the couple were married Jan. 19, 1946, in New Castle, Pennsylvania. 

The Robinsons moved to California until Ralph was honorably discharged a few years later. They then returned to New Castle, where they still live today. 

The Robinsons had their oldest child, Cheryl, in 1950, and their second child, Marcia, in 1954. Cheryl passed away in 2016 from breast cancer. 

Marcia and her husband, Phil, have lived in Florida since 1984, and in Ocoee since 1995.

The Robinsons flew to Orlando to celebrate the holidays and their anniversary with family in Ocoee. Marcia will fly her parents back to New Castle at the end of January. 

The Robinsons have one grandson, Justin, who is in the U.S. Air Force and is being deployed to Italy for three years with his wife, Sarah, and their three children, Ayden, Cohen and Sydney. 

Courtesy photo