ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, December 7, 1995 TAG: 9512070035
SECTION: NEIGHBORS PAGE: E-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: S.D. HARRINGTON STAFF WRITER
MEMO: NOTE: Also ran in December 10, 1995 Current.
When two couples older than 70 filed for marriage licenses on the same day in October in Salem Circuit Court, the deputy clerks wondered if a new tax law had recently passed to make it more advantageous for the elderly to marry.
A couple of weeks later, another couple over 70 filed for a marriage license.
That was unusual for Salem, said deputy clerk Debbie Taylor.
But psychologists say an increase of marriages between elderly couples is not surprising at all.
People are living healthier lives. Therefore, they are living longer and remarriages are more feasible, said Margaret Huick, a professor in the Institute of Psychology of the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago.
"There is no reason for them not to enter into a good partnership," she said.
Despite some who said he was too old, Joshua Hylton, 83, was tired of living alone.
"I had been by myself for about 20 months," said Hylton, whose wife died in April 1994.
Hylton married Ethel Nichols, 78, Saturday. The couple have known each other for several years, Hylton said.
The newlyweds are living in Salem.
"I think everything will be all right," Hylton said Monday.
Hylton and his wife hadn't planned their marriage intentionally around the holidays. It just happened that way, he said.
But Huick said the holidays traditionally are bustling with romance and marriage and "a period where people are much more aware to be committed to family," she said.
Whereas the holidays are too busy for younger couples to tie the knot, retired couples may have more time to plan their weddings around the holidays, Huick said.
Marriage can also be advantageous physically for the elderly. Huick said that studies have shown that men who are happily married live longer.
Huick said that marriages between elderly couples statistically have risen over the last few years, dispelling any myths that you can be too old for love.
"It recognizes that there is life after 70," Huick said.
LENGTH: Short : 49 linesby CNB