- Date Of Birth: September 20, 1915
- Date Of Death: April 16, 2019
- State: Connecticut
Ann Shawah Betar, a longtime resident of Fairfield and Bridgeport, CT, passed away on April 16 in Trumbull, CT, surrounded by devoted family and caregivers. Ann, 103, died of old age, as had her loving husband, John G. Betar, seven months earlier at the age of 107. Ann and John were married for nearly 86 years and in 2018 were considered among the longest married living couples in the country if not the world. Ann was born in Norwalk, CT, on September 20, 1915, to John S. Shawah and Mary Shawah, immigrants from Soueidieh, Syria (now Samandag, Turkey). She attended elementary school in Norwalk and as a junior at Bassick High School in Bridgeport had plans to be a nurse when she graduated. Love intervened, and she and John, a fruit peddler from across the way, eloped on November 25, 1932, in Harrison, NY, to the chagrin of some relatives who thought the marriage would not last. That perception was short-lived. On the occasion of their 80th wedding anniversary in 2012, Ann and John were selected by the Worldwide Marriage Encounter to represent America’s longest living married couples.
