Always A Goodnight Kiss

Anne and Herb Isner
celebrate 50 years of happiness.

where her closest friends
would be comfortable.
"We had been looking for a
synagogue
where we could be
erb Isner knew that Anne
married,
and
some of the old
Morris's mother worked
folks there who were my
at Jewish Home for Aged,
bubbes and zaydes found out I
but he had no idea she
was going to be married. They
also lived there, with Anne.
asked Ira Sonnenblick for per-
So picking up his date at the
mission for us to get married
address on Petoskey Avenue was
there. They went to
something of a novelty the
the board of direc-
first time they met.
Top right:
"I met her at the door. I
Anne Morris and tors and they were
thought I was at the wrong
Herb Isner on their leary about it, but
wedding day at the one of the zaydes
place," he recalled.
said 'It's for our lit-
old Jewish Home
Fifty years later, Anne
tle angel,' so they
for Aged.
and Herb laugh about their
let me have the
second date — horseback
Bottom
right:
Herb
wedding
there,"
riding with Anne's mother
and
Anne
Isner:
Anne
recalled.
(Anne called it Herb's ruse
Together for 50
The July 11,
to get her to sit nearer to
years.
1948, wedding —
him in his car) — and wax
the first and only
nostalgic about their wed-
nuptials held at the
ding, which took place at
Home — took place in the
the now defunct nursing home.
dining room. The challah was
But it was a natural. When Etta
over three feet long. The resi-
Morris was hired by Ira Sonnenblick
dents pooled their money to
as a nurse in 1947, she and her
buy the newlyweds a silver
daughter moved into the part of the
service.
home that had formerly housed a
The ensuing years
Jewish orphanage. Anne, a luminous
brought the Isners
19-year-old, became the darling of
plenty of joy, includ-
the residents, who referred to her as
ing the birth of
their "klane malach," or "little
their children,
angel."
Rhonda and Alan,
A year later, Herb called Anne,
and their grand-
having gotten her phone number
children, Brian
from a friend who pestered him dur-
and Dan Silver,
ing a bar mitzvah party to call the
and tribulations.
young woman. Back from the Navy
Anne recalls that
and just finding his place in the
Herb insisted that
world, Herb was "playing the field."
Etta live with them
It took him a month to phone
when
she fell ill.
Anne.
That was one more
Five dates later, after Herb had
reason she loved
returned from a leave that he
Herb.
described as a last-ditch attempt to
And there were other
shore up his bachelorhood, the two
interests that sustained their
decided they belonged together.
union, including raising shetland
"I called her as soon as I got back
sheepdogs,
more commonly known
from a month in New York. That
as
shelties,
and
boating both as a
gorgeous thing — I kept seeing her
recreational sport and as officers of
in my mind," he said.
the U.S. Power Squadron, which
Deciding where to get married
teaches boating and navigation.
wasn't difficult. Anne wanted a place

JULIE EDGAR
News Editor

im

7/17
1998

50

Herb, who
owned Zenith
Furniture in
Detroit, noted
that the family
always took vaca-
tions together, often
by car so they'd have
the flexibility to leave the
beaten path if something
intrigued them.
"Although we haven't had great
things happen to us, we've had a
happy life together," said Herb.
The Isners, original members of

Congregation Beth Shalom, promised
each other from the get-go that they
would never go to bed mad and
would always say goodnight with a
kiss. That has held true for 50 years.
"We never went to bed angry at
each other. We always kissed each
other goodnight. We always hugged
each other. Maybe we didn't mean it
so much when we said it, and the
next morning, whatever caused the
tiff, it was forgotten. We're not just
man and wife. He's my friend, he's
my lover, he's my everything," Anne
said. ❑