Lynn couple mark 70th anniversary, share keys to lasting marriage

LYNN – Bob and Florence Bonin fell in love when they met 72 years ago at an ice cream parlor on Union Street.The lifelong Lynners were married two years later at St. Joseph’s Church on Union Street and, on Saturday, the happy couple celebrated 70 years of marriage together with more than a dozen of their family and friends at Old Tyme Restaurant in Lynn.”We were surprised when we saw this,” said Bob Florence, who recently celebrated his 90th birthday. “We’re seeing people here we haven’t seen in along time.”He and his wife, also 90, smiled and shared one pair of eyeglasses as they sipped coffee and chatted with friends who had flown in from as far away as Nebraska and Maryland.The couple’s daughter, Linda Towey, planned the surprise party along with her brothers and sisters: Robert Bonin, John Bonin and Gale Bettinger.Towey said the children wanted to show their appreciation for how their parents raised the family.”Not one of us has a complaint,” she said. ” ? We are truly blessed.”And through it all, Bob and Florence Bonin nurtured their own successful marriage, she said.”They’ve been in love so long,” she said. “From the moment my father saw my mother.”Florence Bonin said there’s no real secret to staying married for 70 years: It just comes natural to them.”We love each other. We get along great. We very seldom ever dispute,” she said.Her husband said the two also rarely get sick of spending time with each other.”Where we go, the other goes too,” he said.It’s obvious to everyone else who knows the longtime couple that they have something special, said Eric Hagenau, the couple’s godson.Hagenau said the two regularly hold hands, Bob Bonin opens the door for his wife – “And then he gets mad when I don’t open the door for [my wife],” he said. ” ? They are the cutest little couple.”Eric Hagenau’s wife, Sue Hagenau, said there are numerous family photos where Bob and Florence Bonin are captured in time smooching.”They’re just the best,” she said. “They love each other unconditionally.”The couple’s son-in-law, John Towey, called Bob and Florence Bonin “the anchor of the family.”But it’s the children who anchor her, said Florence Bonin.”We have four beautiful children,” she said. ” ? No matter if we’re sick, they’re right there.”Bob Bonin said couple’s game plan for celebrating many more wedding anniversaries is as simple as the recipe for their marriage.”As long as we keep going the way we’ve been going, stay together, that’s it, that’s the way we want it,” he said.Amber Parcher can be reached at [email protected].