BY BOB KRASNER | Every couple has a story, but some of those tales last longer than others. The 70-year marriage of Frank and Natalie Rosenberg is notable not just for its longevity (though, really, there should be a prize for that) but for the legacy that they will leave behind.
On Sept. 15, family and friends danced the night away at the Manhattan Penthouse, at 80 Fifth Ave., in celebration of a union that was set in motion back in 1920, when Frank was born in Corona, Queens, the youngest of seven. Natalie followed five years later in Brooklyn.
They married when she was just 18 and went about creating a family. Two sons, Marty and Hal, and one daughter, Sara.
Frank went from being a salesman to owning his own printing business. Meanwhile, Natalie went from being a teacher and then a guidance counselor to her calling as a psychotherapist.
The family expanded as the kids got married and found their way. Marty and the Rosenbergs’ son-in-law Ken Abbott (Sara’s husband) joined Frank in the printing business, where they developed one of the first typesetting programs for the Mac computer. Called “Ready Set Go,” it is still being used today.
Sara is a social worker. Hal is a psychotherapist. Marty left the printing business to become a science teacher. Formerly the head of the science department at Edgemont High School, Marty was once voted the best science teacher in New York State.
The kids had kids of their own, providing the Rosenbergs with grandchildren. Then grandchildren had kids, and now the infants Kyle and Alice have the distinction of knowing their great-grandparents.
The couple have lived in their two-bedroom apartment in Greenwich Village since 1968. They’ve watched their neighborhood “change gradually,” they said, and have always loved the Village.
They note that the area has become “bigger and denser” and that “the A&P became the Food Emporium and now, a Halloween shop.”
The Rosenbergs’ bridge club is still on every Monday, and each day at 5 o’clock, one can find them at home sharing a cocktail with their friends.
Another great grandchild is due in December.
But age has forced some changes — 93-year-old Frank no longer walks to work. And they’ve transitioned from the nightclub to the health club.
Natalie laughingly noted, “We used to go to Reno Sweeney’s, but now we go to aerobics at the 14th Street Y.”
