Samy Cordero Sam Sporn and his wife, Ellen, have been married for 71 years The two attended the opera together for decades until Sam suffered several eye strokes in 2020 Sam's sweet way of staying connected to his wife through music went viral Sam Sporn attended operas with his wife, Ellen, for over 70 years, stemming back to when they first started dating. Unfortunately, during the pandemic, Sam suffered several eye strokes and was left unable to read subtitles or navigate crowded spaces. Due to the irreversible damage to his eyesight, the 94-year-old no longer attends performances in person. This, however,has not stopped Sam from listeningto the opera on WQXR while his 91-year-old wife heads to the theater. Although they no longer see the shows together, Sam is always eager to discuss his thoughts with Ellen when she returns home. The couple has managed to keep the music an integral part of their marriage despite the challenges that have come with age. "Ellen had grown up loving music and playing the piano," Sam tells PEOPLE exclusively. "We were [opera] members way, way back, when we first moved back into Park Slope… We used to go very often and took great joy in it." He and his wife had box seats at the Metropolitan Opera, as well as the Brooklyn Academy of Music, largely thanks to Ellen. Growing up, she used to attend shows with her family and later introduced it to Sam. "I reacted to it in a very positive way because she loved it and I love her," he says. "I wanted very much to listen to the opera and understand the opera." After each show, Ellen would often ask Sam what he thought and the two would end up discussing all the details – what they loved and what they disliked. Samy Cordero Despite his busy schedule as a successful class action attorney, Sam loved to talk about the opera with his wife because he knew how much it meant to her. Ellen is a third-generation American from Brooklyn, N.Y., with grandparents who immigrated from Romania in the late 1800s. Her father, a lawyer and part-time post office worker, and her mother, a bookkeeper, both supported New York's cultural scene, exposing Ellen to opera, theater, and classical music from a young age. Even after Ellen's parents had passed, Sam says they "continued going to the opera and keeping alive the music." Given the deterioration of his eyesight, Sam has not been able to attend performances in person, however, he still gets excited every time Ellen gets back from a show. Samy Cordero "I feel terribly enthused because, not only did she see it, but she heard it and she enjoyed the pageantry and the music and the ambience, all of these things," he explains. "And that she still is able to at ell… I love that." Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE's free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. The music-adoring couple, who fell in love after being set up by mutual friends decades ago, ended up having three children. "I love her, I totally love her," Sam says of his wife, who earned her PhD and taught at York College as an ESL professor. "She is definitely my soulmate, and, you know, we look after each other, and it's so important that we're in each other's corners." Samy Cordero Sam's granddaughter, Samy Cordero, has always been inspired by her grandparents' relationship and is determined to implement their values into her own life. "My grandparents have always been partners. They take care of each other and they have each other's backs constantly," Cordero reveals. "This is the kind of relationship I will always aspire to have. And the kind of love I try to show my partner every day." When asked what love means to him, Sam says it "means total devotion." His commitment to preserving their tradition and nurturing his wife's love for opera illustrates the couple's unbreakable bond after 71 years of marriage. Read the original article onPeople
