Walter and Babette Sonneborn

Walter and Babette Sonneborn

Interview transcript

Saranac Lake, New York, love, sunsets, marriage, romance, summer love, ice cream sundae, couples, elderly couples, family, brother, friend, happiness, glasses, fondness, embarrassed, engaged, luck.

Storyteller: Babette Sonneborn, 87, and Walter Sonneborn, 96
Interviewer: Ellen Hofheimer Bettemann (niece)
Facilitator: Kevin Oliver
6/29/08, 16:30. Saranac Lake, NY
TRT: 1:12

Walter Sonneborn and Babette, his wife of 67 years, remember the summer they first met.

PULL: The evening that I met her, she had ‘Babbs’ written on her sweater.

WS: The evening that I met her, she had Babbs written on her sweater, which is nice for me because I can’t remember names. Every evening we watched the sun set and when I said look at the shape of that sun, my wife said it’s so nice and round, and the sun was split in half by a cloud. So after that I insisted on her wearing her glasses

BS: We were certainly very fond of each other and we were together all the time. And it was such a perfectly wonderful summer.

WS: Let me tell you some of the juicier things. Babbs and I would hold hands and Babbs’ friend always said “has he kissed you yet.?”, and Babbs’ brother would say “Walter Walter, lead me to the alter.” Babbs was very embarrassed.

BS: You know it was so different in those days.

WS: Every night we’d walk through the village and have an ice cream sundae and one day I stopped and held her hand, I said “would you marry me?”.

BS: We thought we were secretly engaged, but all the guests in the hotel said, “we wish you lots of luck.”

WS: Well we’ve been married 67 years and the main happiness we have is our love for each other.