After 72 years, couple thinks it will work out Best advice from the wife: Have 'lots of tolerance'

Thelma and Carl Ganz of Annapolis have reached a milestone: They are celebrating their 72nd wedding anniversary today.

Her sense of humor intact, Mrs. Ganz says: "I'm surprised [the marriage] lasted this long. I didn't think it would last a year."

They were married in 1925 in the Roaring '20s.

"I guess you could say that I was a flapper," says Mrs. Ganz, who at 92 is a slender woman with red nails and styled hair. "But we didn't call ourselves that at the time."

Mr. Ganz, now 96, uses a wheelchair because of hip problems. He worked for 44 years for The Baltimore Sun, beginning in classified ads and working his way up to manager of the national advertising department.

"The Sun was always a good employer, especially during the Depression," says Mrs. Ganz.

"While salaries everywhere were being reduced, The Sun maintained my husband's salary until the very end of that period. Since the cost of everything was dropping, we managed to do very well."

Residents of Annapolis for less than a year -- they reside at the Annapolitan, an assisted-living home east of Annapolis -- the couple still calls Towson home.

Towson is where they raised their daughter, Janice Greenwood, who has a daughter and twin sons and lives on the Eastern Shore. The Ganzes have six great-grandchildren.

An avid bridge player until her sight failed in August, Mrs. Ganz also made most of her daughter's clothes as well as her own coats, suits and dresses. These tailored garments fill her closet today.

When asked what advice she would give to couples marrying today, she said, "Lots of tolerance. Marriage is a two-way street.

"I don't think any two people can live together without working on it."

Pub Date: 6/16/97