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A MARTINEZ, HOST:
Time now for StoryCorps. Today, a love story that began in the Catskills. It was the summer of 1946. Hunny Feller and her identical twin sister, Bunny, were waitresses at a hotel. Another set of identical twins, Elliot and Danny Reiken, worked as musicians in a band there. At StoryCorps, Hunny and Elliot remembered what happened when the twins met the twins.
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ELLIOT REIKEN: When we met, you and your sister couldn't tell us apart, and we couldn't tell you two apart.
HUNNY REIKEN: But by the end of the summer, there was no chance of separating us. And we had a double wedding. You and I were married the same day as Bunny and Danny were married. And it was two brides, two grooms, one set of parents for each. The gowns were identical gowns. The flowers were identical.
E REIKEN: We both went on a honeymoon to Miami Beach by different trains...
H REIKEN: Yeah, so people wouldn't....
E REIKEN: ...Because we didn't want to be so obvious that people would be staring at us, you know, embarrassing.
H REIKEN: Yeah, the twins that married the twins.
E REIKEN: What'd you think about marrying me many years ago?
H REIKEN: You bowled me over with your way of kissing and the way you hold me when we dance. You're not a fantastic dancer, but you hold me fantastically. And I feel it. It's genuine. You're just not phony. I don't think you have a phony bone in your body. And I never thought anybody lasts this many years.
E REIKEN: Like, just yesterday was our 50th anniversary.
H REIKEN: Yeah. And now it's 11 years after that. I never feel, what will he do if I die first? You know how to open tuna fish. You know how to schmear it with mayonnaise. You will not fall apart. You'll feel sad when I'm gone. But you will manage. And that makes me feel very good. Thank you for being you, Elliot. You made my life complete.
E REIKEN: And I say the same. You made my life complete and hope we go on for another 50 years.
H REIKEN: I'll take five good ones. Five good ones, and I'll say thank you, God.
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MARTINEZ: That's one of the sweetest things I've heard in a while. That was Hunny and Elliot Reiken in New York City in 2010. The last of the twins, Elliot Reiken, died last week. He was 98 years old. This conversation is archived at the Library of Congress. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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