[QUOTE]Originally posted by Edwina's Secretary
[B]Popcornbird -- first you must look at this in its historic context -- NOT through the eyes of a teenager in 2003 with a world full of options and possiblities.

The average life expectancy was 47 years, only 14% of US households had a bathtub, most women only washed their hair once a month, and the third leading cause of death was diarrhea.

She was disabled, her father (who sired a child at 68!) had died. As the oldest child she would have been responsible for her mother and younger brothers. We can assume she was not well educated and had limited opportunity for education.

She meet a man who was willing to court her and wait two years, with whom she could sit and talk for hours, who was willing to help support her widowed mother and brothers. She was a lucky woman indeed.


I have been thinking about the age gap also and I think the above hits the nail on the head. I think they really loved each other and it was not strange in that time. I think that if she would have been older (say 20) when they first started courting many of us would not have thought it was so odd. But I do think in this day and age if anyone of you had a daughter around that age (say 14) and a man in his 80's was intersted in her romantically that would send off a alarm. But, that was a whole different time.
A very good friend of mine just lost her husband at ?age 83 -she is around 49. They were married for aver 20 years. I have a relative that has been in a long term relationship with a gal who is 12 years older than him.