After 75 years, Sol and Frances Levin are still in love

Sol and Frances Levin

TORONTO — Having been married for 75 years come June 6, it’s a question Frances and Sol Levin can’t seem to escape.

Asked to share their wisdom about what makes a successful, decades-long marriage, Frances, who turns 95 in August, said it’s hard to pinpoint.

“Well, you have to love each other first. You have to be kind to each other,” she said.

But for Sol, 98, his answer was simple.

“I’m still in love with her.”

Both Frances and Sol were born and raised in Montreal, where they raised four children and have since been blessed with a growing family of 13 grandchildren and 25 great-grandchildren. The couple spoke to The CJN about the ups and downs of their 75 years together.

Sitting in the library of the Dunfield Retirement Residence in midtown Toronto, where the Levins moved last year, they recalled the day they met in 1938.

“We met at a dance,” Sol began.

“He was my best girlfriend’s boyfriend and she told me about what an adorable guy she was going out with. And then we went to this dance – actually it was a Hadassah dance,” Frances said.

“He called me the next day and I said, ‘I can’t go out with you’… but he was persistent. But he wasn’t the one for me, because I had a boyfriend.”

Sol said he was taken with his future wife the moment he laid eyes on her.

“After I saw her, that was it. It was love at first sight, actually,” he said, adding that he left his girlfriend at the time and pursued her.

“I wasn’t attracted to him in the first place. He was too much for me. First of all, I was 18, and he was three years older. I never went out with anyone who was more than a year older,” Frances said.

Frances, who had been living with her aunt since her mother died when she was just two years old, needed to be convinced.

“I wasn’t sure about him, and my aunt used to say, ‘He’s so good, he’s so good.’ And I would say, ‘I don’t know. I don’t know.’ It took me about six months before I realized that he was the one.”

Sol, who made a living as a businessman, said there was no formal marriage proposal.

“I don’t think I popped the question. It was just assumed.”

About two years after they met, when Frances was just two months shy of her 20th birthday, she married him at Montreal’s Shaare Zion Congregation.

The Levins welcomed their first child in 1944, and within 3-1/2 years, they had three kids.

They raised their family in Notre-Dame-de-Grâce (NDG), a residential neighbourhood in Montreal’s west end.

Frances said although they had a happy marriage, she did experience some difficult times.

“You go through all kinds of feelings… There was a time when I was ready to leave him.”

“Now you’re telling me?” Sol interjected, barely rattled by this confession.

Frances said she was visiting her doctor, who was also a family friend, and she told him, “‘I can’t do it. It’s too hard.’ And he said, ‘Tell me what would happen if he got into an accident and was hurt? I said, ‘I’d want to die.’ He said, ‘There you are.’”

When asked what the biggest challenge in their marriage was, Sol said, “I didn’t think we had any.”

“You know what, he never had any, and it’s still the same,” Frances said.

“Everything is fine. Everything is great. Nothing bothers him. We’re certainly opposites. No question.”

Susan Levin, the youngest of the couple’s four children, said she remembers growing up with a wonderful family life and parents who set a great example of what a happy marriage should be.

“Until last year, when my father couldn’t do it anymore, he got her a card and flowers for every birthday and anniversary,” Susan said.

“And my father never left the house in the morning without kissing my mother goodbye. Never.”

Susan said that in addition to raising a family together, they also played together.

“They played bridge together, they golfed together, they went away during the winters,” she said, adding that her parents are both still mobile and active, playing bridge in their spare time and keeping current by reading newspapers and books.

“But we weren’t tied to each other. I could do whatever I wanted, go wherever I wanted, He didn’t care. And he could, too,” Frances said.

When asked to describe the kind of a wife Frances was, Sol said, “What kind? The best. She is the best of everything. You’re the best of everything, darling,” he said, turning to face her, reaching for her hand.

On June 6, their wedding anniversary, a luncheon will be held at the Dunfield. Susan said about 60 family members and close friends will attend.