Glen Cove mayor Ralph Suozzi made a special Valentine's Day visit to the assisted living center at Atria Glen Cove yesterday to personally conduct a renewal of vows ceremony for a couple approaching their eighty-sixth year of marriage.
"It's not every day that a mayor of any city comes to your place to do something like that," said Anthony Panaro, who will celebrate his anniversary with his wife, Gloria, on Feb. 20.
The Panaros each donned red for the occasion and enjoyed a toast to their decades of happiness, which to date have produced two sons and two daughters, six grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
Anthony still remembers the dance where he met Gloria on August 28, 1940. He and some friends had formed a club and were holding the dance in a loft in Manhattan, complete with a nickelodeon machine. Gloria showed up with her group, a girls' club calling themselves The Sirens.
Anthony promptly asked her for a dance. Three years later, returning from a stint in the army, Anthony married her.
The Panaros said they were honored by the presence of the mayor, who also gave them a card.
"He's a very personable man," Anthony said.
