As America's longest married couple prepare to celebrate their 81st wedding anniversary, 102-year-old husband John Betar has revealed the secret behind their incredible relationship  - 'always agree with your wife!' John and Ann Betar eloped on November 25, 1932, fleeing their close-knit Syrian neighborhood in Bridgeport, Connecticut. They got into John's Ford Roadster and drove as fast as they could to Harrison, New York, to avoid Ann's father's plans to marry her off to a man 20 years older. Going strong: America's longest married couple John and Ann Betar, who tied the knot . in 1932, share a joke as they look forward to an incredible 81st wedding . anniversary . Sweethearts: The couple fled their close-knit Syrian neighborhood in Bridgeport, Connecticut for a new life in New York . Now, as they prepare to celebrate . their anniversary on Monday, the couple, named on Valentine's Day by . Worldwide Marriage Encounter as 2013's 'longest married couple' in . America, can only laugh as they look back on the commotion they caused. 'Everyone . was hopping mad, and my wife's aunt consoled my father-in-law by . telling him not to worry, the marriage won't last,' chuckled John Betar, . now 102 and still driving 'though not quite as fast as the day we got . married.' Ann Betar, 98, . said she 'had no choice but to elope because my father was set on me . marrying a much older man, and I was 17. John was not the boy next door, . but the boy across the street who I loved,' she said. 'He was 21 and used to drive me to high school in his Ford Roadster,' she added. 'That's . why she married me, she loved that car,' joked John Betar, as he sat on . a couch holding his wife's hand in the waterfront house they have . shared since 1964. Always and forever: Mrs Betar, then 17, eloped with the 20-year-old Mr Betar on November 15, 1932, marrying in the small town of Harrison in New York . The day . the couple tied the knot, the Great Depression was in full swing, 'King . Kong' had yet to shake up the silver screen, and future U.S. President . John F. Kennedy was just a high school student. 'We have watched the world change together,' said John Betar. 'The key is to always agree with your wife.' The . couple's house is on Long Island Sound, just a few miles from where . they raised their five children in Bridgeport. John ran a grocery store . before becoming a realtor. Life has not always been easy. The couple lost one daughter and their only son to cancer within the past 15 years. 'No . matter how many children you have or how old they are, it's the worst . thing that can happen to a parent,' Ann Betar said. 'But our oldest . daughter is 80 years old.' The Betars have 14 grandchildren and 16 great-grandchildren. Memory lane: John Betar, 102, looks through some of the couple's many old photo albums at their home in Fairfield, Connecticut . Record books: The couple recently received the longest-marriage award from the Worldwide Marriage Encounter . Last . February, representatives of Worldwide Marriage Encounter, a Christian . group based in San Bernardino, California, flew to Fairfield to present . the Betars with a plaque and other gifts. It . determined they were the longest-married living couple in the United . States, based on a review of nominations sent in from around the . country. Dick Baumbach, a group spokesman, came up with the idea for the annual award to 'encourage young couples to stay together.' The Betars even finish each other's sentences. 'We'll be together forever,' said John, as Ann added softly, 'somewhere we will be.'
John Betar, 102, and wife Ann, 98, eloped on November 25, 1932 .
They fled their neighborhood in Bridgeport, Connecticut for New York .
Due to celebrate their anniversary on Monday .
As America's longest married couple prepare to celebrate their 81st wedding anniversary, 102-year-old husband John Betar has revealed the secret behind their incredible relationship  - 'always agree with your wife!' John and Ann Betar eloped on November 25, 1932, fleeing their close-knit Syrian neighborhood in Bridgeport, Connecticut. They got into John's Ford Roadster and drove as fast as they could to Harrison, New York, to avoid Ann's father's plans to marry her off to a man 20 years older. Going strong: America's longest married couple John and Ann Betar, who tied the knot . in 1932, share a joke as they look forward to an incredible 81st wedding . anniversary . Sweethearts: The couple fled their close-knit Syrian neighborhood in Bridgeport, Connecticut for a new life in New York . Now, as they prepare to celebrate . their anniversary on Monday, the couple, named on Valentine's Day by . Worldwide Marriage Encounter as 2013's 'longest married couple' in . America, can only laugh as they look back on the commotion they caused. 'Everyone . was hopping mad, and my wife's aunt consoled my father-in-law by . telling him not to worry, the marriage won't last,' chuckled John Betar, . now 102 and still driving 'though not quite as fast as the day we got . married.' Ann Betar, 98, . said she 'had no choice but to elope because my father was set on me . marrying a much older man, and I was 17. John was not the boy next door, . but the boy across the street who I loved,' she said. 'He was 21 and used to drive me to high school in his Ford Roadster,' she added. 'That's . why she married me, she loved that car,' joked John Betar, as he sat on . a couch holding his wife's hand in the waterfront house they have . shared since 1964. Always and forever: Mrs Betar, then 17, eloped with the 20-year-old Mr Betar on November 15, 1932, marrying in the small town of Harrison in New York . The day . the couple tied the knot, the Great Depression was in full swing, 'King . Kong' had yet to shake up the silver screen, and future U.S. President . John F. Kennedy was just a high school student. 'We have watched the world change together,' said John Betar. 'The key is to always agree with your wife.' The . couple's house is on Long Island Sound, just a few miles from where . they raised their five children in Bridgeport. John ran a grocery store . before becoming a realtor. Life has not always been easy. The couple lost one daughter and their only son to cancer within the past 15 years. 'No . matter how many children you have or how old they are, it's the worst . thing that can happen to a parent,' Ann Betar said. 'But our oldest . daughter is 80 years old.' The Betars have 14 grandchildren and 16 great-grandchildren. Memory lane: John Betar, 102, looks through some of the couple's many old photo albums at their home in Fairfield, Connecticut . Record books: The couple recently received the longest-marriage award from the Worldwide Marriage Encounter . Last . February, representatives of Worldwide Marriage Encounter, a Christian . group based in San Bernardino, California, flew to Fairfield to present . the Betars with a plaque and other gifts. It . determined they were the longest-married living couple in the United . States, based on a review of nominations sent in from around the . country. Dick Baumbach, a group spokesman, came up with the idea for the annual award to 'encourage young couples to stay together.' The Betars even finish each other's sentences. 'We'll be together forever,' said John, as Ann added softly, 'somewhere we will be.'
eloped on November 25, 1932, fleeing their fled their close-knit Syrian neighborhood in Bridgeport, Connecticut for a new life in New York . Now, as they prepare to celebrate . their last,' chuckled John Betar, . now 102 and still