The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
From blind date to 60 years of marriage
Pites’ advice for long marriage: Find right person
“I try to make him happy, he tries to make me happy. It’s about not being selfish.” — Nancy Pite
MILFORD » Mickey and Nancy Pite are still so in love after 60 years of marriage that she can’t pass his chair in the living room without stopping to give him a kiss.
“I love him more every minute,” Nancy Pite said. “I feel sorry for every woman in the world who isn’t married to him.”
For his part, Mickey says his wife is still beautiful and “I still love her after 60 years.”
Her response to that is an example of just about the most disagreement you’ll ever hear between them: “More than ever, you’re supposed to say,” she told him.
Mickey Pite, 85, and Nancy 82, both grew up in New Haven and met on a blind date in 1957, a week after she broke up with her fiancé and longtime boyfriend after realizing her father was right that he wasn’t the man for her.
The Pites met April 20, 1957, were engaged seven weeks later on that Aug. 8 and were married in a big wedding.
This year the couple will celebrate their 60th anniversary in their favorite way, surrounded by their five grown children, 11 grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. The family members will travel from California, Texas, Illinois, Florida, Georgia.
Both retired now, Mickey Pite owned a paper company and Nancy Pite was a kindergarten teacher at Orange Avenue School for 31 years.
When they met, she was in college in Boston and was coming home to New Haven for the weekend following the breakup with her fiancé. She was an only child and close to her father after having lost her mother as a young girl. Her dad hated to see her upset, so he arranged for a friend – a neighbor of Mickey Pite’s family – to fix her up.
Mickey Pite said he had no problem with women and usually didn’t accept blind date offers, but this time he said “yes” without ever having seen Nancy.
She accepted his date by phone and when he asked where she’d like to go, she suggested the movie.
Instead he brought her to Long Island for a night of fun; they ate at Lindy’s Restaurant in Manhattan. It got to be 1 a.m., so she checked in with her father by telephone, as he was the type to be pacing in his silk robe when it was time for her to return from a date.
When they got back to Connecticut from New York, the couple went to Gulf Beach, talked through the morning and watched the sunrise.
“I wined her and dined her – that’s why she married me,” he said. “I thought she was beautiful.”
Mickey Pite’s father, a Yale University graduate, was an educator who owned Collegiate Preparatory School in New Haven where Mickey attended. Her father owned a men’s clothing store out of New York City.
Nancy Pite said she liked Mickey because he was outgoing, friendly, affectionate, generous and a lot of fun – as he is to this day.
“He sits here and keeps me laughing,” she said.
Mickey Pite said he fell in love with Nancy because she was beautiful, smart and loved kids, the latter being a high priority to him.
Nancy Pite said the most important element for a long, happy marriage is “finding the right person.”
“I try to make him happy, he tries to make me happy,” Nancy Pite said. “It’s about not being selfish.”
Son-in-law Hans Breda said if the Pites have a disagreement, it lasts about one minute.
“It’s amazing how much these two love each other,” he said. It helps, Breda quipped, that Nancy Pite can’t always hear her husband well. The Pites chuckled over that one, a running family joke.
The Pites have traveled the world and continue to travel for family milestones such as graduations and weddings.
“I think it’s a miracle to meet the right person – especially when you’re young,” Nancy Pite said.
For both of the Pites, it all went by in a blink.
“I can’t believe it’s 60 years – it feels more like 10,” Mickey Pite said.