Sacks to celebrate their 70th anniversary on Thanksgiving

“Lucky me!” is the way Ronald Sacks describes his marriage of 70 years to his bride Helene. Helene and Ronald Sacks, Canyon Lake residents since 1998, are celebrating their 70th Anniversary on Thanksgiving Day next week.

Ron and Helene grew up in Santa Monica and met at Santa Monica High School in the 1950s. They were engaged during Helene’s senior year and Helene recalls wearing her diamond engagement ring to school and causing quite a buzz in her typing class. Her teacher looked at her and the ring and told her, “That will never last.” Well, she proved him wrong, and still laughs about the incident.

Ron and Helene were married on Nov. 25, 1951 in a traditional ceremony held at The Carolina Pines in Los Angeles. Both were just 18 years old.

The Sacks have three sons: Alan, Gregory, and Chuck; three daughters-in-law: Alanna, Daryl, and Debra; five grandchildren: Jack, Jessica, James, Ben, and Erica and their spouses: Stephanie, Courtney, and Mike. They just had their first great grandchild, Beck.

The couple is often surrounded by their loving family and many friends out on the ocean, on the lake, on a family vacation, or at a lakeside barbecue.

They are often asked how it is that they kept their marriage alive. Helene said she attributes it to mutual respect and living a very simple life.

“I was a homemaker and Ron worked very hard,” she said. “In our free time we were out in the ocean, boating and fishing with our kids.”

Early in the marriage, Ron worked for a family member in the shoe business, and then built a brand called Sacks Shoes. Later, he made Ringo leather sandals with a tire sole (a popular shoe in the 1960s and 1970s) while living in San Bernardino. This is where they raised their sons.

Twenty years later, Ron and Helene moved back to Los Angeles and then settled in Canyon Lake.

“I got lucky and found the right partner,” Ron said after being asked what has been the magic of a 70-year marriage. “When you have the right partner, there is no end to the wonderful life you can share. For the next 20 years we plan to slow down and live at our speed. We cannot live at racecourse speed now, and that’s just fine.”

In addition to good luck, Ron said he acknowledges the importance of appreciation in a relationship.

“My advice to a young couple is that your relationship should include appreciation of family and what you build,” Ron said. “With this, it all plays out. Live within your means, be aggressive in finding a lifestyle you like, and provide the income to support it all.

“Lucky me…it worked out.”