Penny for his thoughts

Deepa Bharath

Their first date was on Memorial Day -- May 30, 1946.

He was in the U.S. Army stationed in Ohio and she was a college

student in New York City.

Isidore Myers remembers it like it was yesterday. They met on a

blind date and had lunch at Tavern on the Green in Central Park and

then went and saw “Oklahoma.”

“It was a good date,” said the 87-year-old Myers, as he sat

reminiscing in the study of his Big Canyon home, on a recent

afternoon.

Life took a new turn for Myers and his soon-to-be wife, Penny,

that summer. They continued their relationship long-distance, got

married within a year and stayed that way for 56 years, until Penny

died on July 19, 2003, of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, better known

as Lou Gehrig’s Disease.

Her loss was so devastating to Myers that he decided to write a

book about their life together. He compiled hundreds of letters they

wrote to each other, little love notes and pictures that were worth

their weight in words.

What came out of his 11-month-long effort was more than a book. It

was a legacy for posterity, a memorial to Penny Myers and most of

all, a Taj Mahal, which bears towering testimony to the love this

couple shared.

“It was a way for me to relive a remarkable life,” Myers said.

What it takes to live such a life is a lot of love and even more

understanding, he said.

“Penny and I were as different as two people can be,” Myers said.

“She was very outgoing and expressive. She wanted to know what

happened at work and how my day was and I wouldn’t tell her. Well, I

just didn’t want to relive my day.”

AT WORK AND AT PLAY

Penny was a perfectionist, Myers said. She wanted everything

completed and flawless. Her husband was more satisfied doing one

thing at a time and could live with temporary fix-it solutions.

“She was always very open and giving, and she thought that I held

out on her,” he said.

But they worked it out. Myers’ family came from Poland in 1908.

Because they moved to the United States, his parents were the only

ones in their immediate family to survive the Holocaust. His father

started a family business selling tires; it flourished.

Isidore Myers was always busy. But he made a pact with Penny early

in their relationship, he said.

“I promised her that I would work hard, and I was a workaholic,”

Myers admitted. “But that I would also play hard and spend time with

her.”

Traveling was a passion the couple shared. They traveled to many

countries and continents.

“The best trip we took was to India,” he said.

The couple took a luxurious train tour of the marble palaces in

Northern India.

“The next best trip was our visit to mainland China.”

He and Penny also collected artifacts from the countries they

toured.

Penny was eight years younger than Myers, which made her death

that much more shocking.

“I never thought I would outlive her,” he said.

Penny was also a health nut. She was fanatical about exercise. She

walked, jogged, stretched, swam and went to exercise classes.

“And I just worked and worked,” he said. “Life has a way of

handing out surprises, I suppose.”

Myers believes that he owed it to his wife to chronicle their

lives together. It helped that he was a pack rat, Myers said.

“I save everything,” he said. “I save pictures, letters and

cards.”

An enduring example

Because of the personal nature of the book, he will only print 250

copies of it to give to family and friends, Myers said.

The letters, notes and cards sculpt spitting images of its

protagonists. They’re like a show-and-tell of their lives, times and

beliefs.

On Oct. 23, 1946, five months after their first date, Myers wrote:

“I always appreciate money, but I never thought I would care as much

as I do for a Penny.”

In a Dec. 4, 1946 letter, Penny writes: “Darling Izzy, our major

obligations are to each other, above all else, and if you give me

happiness and I return to you twofold, there’s nothing, absolutely

nothing, standing in our path.”

Emotions and feelings never seem to dull or wane in the letters

that the couple wrote to one another -- even the ones written after

more than five decades of marriage.

The Myers’ are examples to young couples, said Lina Matsumoto, who

helped Myers put his book together.

“This was something he did to leave as a legacy to his children

and to preserve Penny’s memories,” she said. “Their love never

diminished. It just grew with each year, until one of them left.

Their devotion, commitment and respect for each other is exemplary.”

What Myers is left with are the memories and countless images --

his wife’s beautiful face made even more beautiful by her smile. And

she smiled a lot.

“It’s hard to explain,” Myers said, leafing through the pages of

his manuscript. “I feel like the most important part of my life ended

when she went.”

* DEEPA BHARATH is the enterprise and general assignment reporter.

She may be reached at (949) 574-4226 or by e-mail at

deepa.bharath@latimes.com.