What keeps a marriage alive for 75 years? A Kortrijk couple, 97 and 94, has a simple answer
Roger (97) and Georgette (94) from Kortrijk have reached a rare milestone: 75 years of marriage. Their advice — never go to sleep on an argument.
In 30 seconds
- Roger (97) and Georgette (94) from Kortrijk have marked 75 years of marriage, according to Het Laatste Nieuws.
- Their stated advice for a lasting marriage: never go to sleep after an argument — "Nooit gaan slapen met ruzie."
- Seventy-five years of marriage implies a wedding around 1951, in post-war Belgium; it is a milestone few couples ever reach.
- In Flanders, 50 years is a golden anniversary and 60 years a diamond anniversary; 75 years is so rare it has no single settled Dutch name.
Roger (97) and Georgette (94) are a couple from Kortrijk, a city in the West Flanders province of Belgium's Dutch-speaking Flanders region. According to Het Laatste Nieuws (HLN), they have marked their 75th wedding anniversary — an exceptionally rare milestone — and summarised their advice for a lasting marriage as "nooit gaan slapen met ruzie" (never go to sleep with an argument). In Flanders, milestone wedding anniversaries are commonly recognised by the local municipality (gemeente): 50 years is a golden anniversary and 60 years a diamond anniversary.
Background
A 75th anniversary in 2026 implies a marriage around 1951, in a Belgium recovering from the Second World War, decades before European integration deepened and before the federal reforms that reshaped the state. The couple's generation typically married young, and their union spans nearly the entire post-war history of modern Belgium.
What to do
To have a family member's milestone anniversary recognised in Flanders, contact the relevant gemeente's dienst Burgerzaken (for this couple, Stad Kortrijk) well in advance to ask what recognition is offered and what documentation is needed; arrangements vary by commune and can change, so confirm current practice locally.
Impact
Regional — The couple live in Kortrijk (West Flanders); recognition of such anniversaries in Flanders is handled locally by each gemeente's dienst Burgerzaken, in this case Stad Kortrijk, rather than by a national body.
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- Publication date unavailable
- Retrieved by ODIN:
- 7 Aug 2026
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This story was assembled from verified evidence, with its sources and reasoning recorded as it was written.