They were reunited in 1948, the year that Marcello joined the research department of Commercial Solvents in Monroe, La. In 1953, he was hired by W.R. Grace, a chemical and materials firm. He worked for the company in New York City and Memphis, Tenn., before moving to Maryland in 1962.
Their home life was peaceful. Elizabeth was an expert cook - serving up platters of chicken cacciatore and veal Parmesan - and gave piano lessons. Marcello wrote poetry in Italian and English, and collected Italian stamps.
"My mother's favorite room was the kitchen. That's where she spent all her time," Thomas Giachino said.
The couple insisted that the family have dinner together every night, sharply at 6. But once at the table, Marcello and Elizabeth shared moments that were all their own.
"My father and mother would sit and talk to each other in Italian," Thomas Giachino of Perry Hall said.
After he retired in 1971, Marcello was director of special projects and manager of W.R. Grace Contract Research for the Edgewood Arsenal.
Marcello suddenly went blind at age 77, the family said. Elizabeth was at his side.
"She became his eyes," Ellanora Giachino said. "She would explain things to him, the grandchildren growing up, what they looked like. She sat there and read the whole newspaper to him every day. She read books to him. It was a love you could just look at them and see."
Their example, said Thomas Giachino, taught the family that "you could overcome all obstacles. That love conquers all."
All three Giachino children have attempted to emulate their parents' example, Thomas Giachino said. Each has had one spouse: Dominic Giachino, 66, of Ellicott City, has been married 39 years. Thomas, and his older sister Dejana Tackett, 62, of Hanover, have each been married 36 years.
"I think they taught us that for a family to be strong, they had to stick together," Thomas Giachino said.
With each in failing health, family members arranged for the couple to live together at Harmony Hall, an assisted-living facility in Columbia, but they didn't stay there long. Marcello Giachino arrived on a Tuesday, waited for his wife to arrive two days later, had a short talk with her, and then fell into a coma, the family said.
"They talked for about a half-hour," mostly in Italian, said Thomas Giachino. "Then he closed his eyes and never woke up again. He died Saturday night. I think he was waiting to hear her voice."
After his death, the family believed Elizabeth Giachino, who was in the early stages of colon cancer, would survive for a long time.
But on Thursday, Elizabeth died.
"It's sad for us, but I think she just wanted to go," Thomas Giachino said.
The couple would have celebrated several milestones this year. Marcello Giachino would have turned 100 in August; she would have turned 93 next month. And their 70th wedding anniversary would have been July 21.
Instead, they shared a memorial service, held Friday at Meadowridge Cemetery in Elkridge - both of them remembered for the love they shared and their lives.
Besides their three children, the couple is survived by five grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.
"When he died, she held his hands. She said, `Marcello, Marcello. I love you so much,'" Ellanora Giachino said. "She said, `I'll be with you soon.'"
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