ELAINE AND HENRY BARON – ONE OF THE CITY’S LONGEST MARRIAGES ON RECORD – HOW SWEET IS THAT?
SUBURBAN CHICAGO–On July 12, 2017, Elaine and Henry Baron will celebrate their 75th wedding anniversary at Ruth Chris Steakhouse in Northbrook. The couple has lived in Chicago since 1948 and has two children, four grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren. Both avid travelers, Henry (97) and Elaine (93) live independently in Highland Park and plan to celebrate like they have every year since they met – with food, family, and lots of dancing.
“We met when I was 16 and Henry was 20,” says Elaine. “I had gone through 2 1/2 years of college at NYU and I was pretty mature. I was visiting my aunt and uncle in Great Neck, Long Island, over a weekend and I was invited to a sweet 16 party by a girl I knew who lived across the street by my aunt and uncle. Dada had a few guy friends and one of them was invited to this party. I was playing ping pong with some young man and I beat him and Dada was watching and asked me to play. At the end of the evening, he wanted to know if I would like a ride back to the Bronx. Turned out he lived about six blocks from where we lived. And that was how it all began.“
After the war broke out in 1939, the two decided to get married. Elaine was 18 and Henry was 22. “I was pretty gutsy getting married at that age and moving away from my family especially after Dada was in the army and I had to live in a one tiny room by myself,” adds Elaine. “But I guess it had to be love because it sure wasn't easy.“ They moved from Lincoln, Nebraska, to Dayton, Ohio and finally settled in Chicago.
During this time, Henry was teaching Air Force pilots the engineering of the plane. By the time they moved to Chicago in 1948, Henry and Elaine had one daughter, Roberta, and another on the way, Michele. The family lived on the Northside of Chicago until 1967, when they built a home in Skokie. Later when their daughters moved to Deerfield, they built another home in Highland Park, where they lived until 2012. This home was always the center of a lot of family dinners and activities. Currently they are living in a condo development in Highland Park and celebrating all that they have to be thankful.-Submitted
