SPRING VALLEY, N.Y. — A husband and wife
thought to be Rockland County's oldest
married couple will celebrate their birthdays
this weekend — with a combined age of
212.
Duranord Veillard will turn 108 on Saturday
while his wife of 82 years, Jeanne, turns
105 in May.
The couple plan to celebrate a milestone
few others will see with family, friends and
well-wishers at their home, where they live
with a daughter, Marie Eveillard.


The son of a fisherman, Duranord Veillard
was born Feb. 28, 1907, in St. Louis du Sud
and grew up in Les Cayes in southern Haiti.
He studied law and lived in Port-au-Prince.
The couple tied the knot in November 1932
— the same month Franklin D. Roosevelt
was elected president in landslide victory
over Herbert Hoover and Groucho Marx
performed on radio for the first time.

Duranord and Jeanne Veillard raised five
children. They moved to the United States in
1968 after Duranord lost his job as a judge
and was awarded a visa to visit the U.S. He
settled in Spring Valley. One by one, family
members joined him.
Veillard got a job as a lab technician at the
Good Samaritan Hospital and worked there
for about 10 years and retired for a second
time.
On Thursday, wearing crisp white guayabera,
brown slacks and brown leather shoes,
Duranord Veillard basked in the attention of
his family.
Nearly blind and hard of hearing, and
swallowed up by his easy chair, Veillard
spoke loudly and at length in French Creole
— cracking jokes, asking for his American
flag and serenading the room with a song he
picked up in Cuba in the 1920s.
Later, he offered a reporter a piece of
birthday cake: frosted and crowned with the
number 108.
"He remembers everything," said his son,
Vely Veillard, 62. "Look at him! He don't
want to use a cane. He's a superstar."
Tania Savayan/The Journal News
Spring Valley resident Duranord Veillard, who
will celebrate his 108th birthday on
Saturday, holds the American and Haitian
flags, while talking with his family, Feb. 26,
2015 in Spring Valley.
Jeanne Veillard sat quietly next to her
husband, wearing a white linen dress and a
pair of pink slippers. They patted each other
on the hand. How did the happy couple
meet?
"I found him in the street," she joked in
French Creole, making the room full of
relatives laugh.
Rockland County doesn't keep records of its
oldest person, but Veillard's family believes
Duranord and Jeanne are the oldest married
couple in the area. They have 12
grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren.
Veillard also let The Journal News in on his
secret for living a long and healthy life:
"That's God," he said in French Creole.
Veillard starts his day at 5 a.m. and does
five to seven pushups. For breakfast, he has
a cup of tea, oatmeal and fresh fruit. Lunch
and dinner consist of fish and fresh
vegetables. The centenarians nap early and
often.
The couple do not leave their house except
to see the doctor. Neither walks without
assistance. But both are looking forward to
celebrating another landmark in their life.
"Thank you very much," Veillard said to well-
wishers. "Merci beaucoup."



http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/02/26/husband-108-wife-105-celebrate-82-years-married/24094901/

Wow

Nice. Its very rear to see this kind of relationship among young black Americans now. Now all they do is having multiple babymama and babydaddy.

Alive and well..!

the Lord is good

This is a practical example of couples being partners for life.

aww..nice one.
Lord pls may i live long wit my beta half n b inlove althru our days IJN,Amen.

misfab:
aww..nice one.
Lord pls may i live long wit my beta half n b inlove althru our days IJN,Amen.

Amen o!

Na God. Make me self begin to dey do push ups. GrandPa must see something in it.

Hm hmmm m,,.life oh life !they have become a national meeseum and Monument !just imagine!we celebrate you oldies ,you are rare gems

Awwwwwww

Rare.