‘I Do,’ They Said--and Did, for More Than 11,500 Years

For 74 years, the Lees have had their share of “for better or for worse,” and on Sunday they were prepared to do it all over again if they could.

The nonagenarians were among nearly 300 Orange County couples renewing their vows at Holy Family Cathedral in Orange in observance of World Marriage Day. Together the couples accounted for more than 11,500 years of marital commitment, the organizers said.

“I didn’t even want to get married back then, but my parents told me I had to,” Young Ku Lee recounted after the special Mass. “I didn’t even see my wife’s face until the wedding day.”

Lee and Sun Ye, of Huntington Beach, were married in a small rural town in Korea on Feb. 1, 1927, when arranged marriages were common and youthful rebellion rare. They were 16.

They endured World War II and the Korean War, and had four sons and four daughters. Two of the sons died before their first birthdays, and five years ago, they lost their eldest daughter to cancer.

They moved to the U.S. nine years ago to join their remaining children, 18 grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren. Sun Ye Lee is frail and left with one of their grandchildren shortly after the Mass. Her husband stayed behind to enjoy some cake as a stream of parishioners congratulated him.

So what is the secret of long-lasting love?

“Patience,” Lee said. “You have to accept the other person. You try and make life easier for each other. Don’t create unnecessary worries.”

How about seeing his bride for the first time on the wedding day? What did he think of her face? He dismisses the questions with a grunt, then pauses.

“You get closer to each other as you get older,” he said.

World Marriage Day is celebrated on the Sunday before Valentine’s Day in churches throughout the country. Concerned with soaring divorce rates, Worldwide Marriage Encounter, a Roman Catholic organization, created the observance in 1983.

On Sunday, hundreds of parishioners packed Holy Family Cathedral to standing room only and married couples exchanged vows in English, Spanish, Korean and Vietnamese. The Lees and the Pizanos, a Fullerton couple married 66 years, were honored with special blessings from Bishop Tod D. Brown of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange.

“I fell in love with her the minute I saw her,” Arthur Pizano, 84, later said of his wife, Linda. “She was the most beautiful girl. Still is.”

Linda Pizano, also 84, blushed slightly. “Thank you, dear,” she said.

The couple met and married in El Paso, Texas. They were 19 and shared a passion for dancing. A long-lasting marriage, Linda Pizano said, is not always a perfect picture.

“You get mad, you get happy,” she said. “You work things out.”

For Pablo Toledano, 27, and his fiance, Heather Barnes, 23, both of Dana Point, the Pizanos and the Lees were an inspiration.

“I’d look at her [during the service] and squeeze her hand,” Toledano said. “That will be us one day.”