WV MARRIAGES AND DIVORCES DOWN - Oldest Groom Was 96, Youngest Bridge Was 14

(06/26/2008)
The Department of Health and Human Resources says that while marriages declined in West Virginia, so did divorces.

The agency's 2006 vital statistics report says 13,276 couples married in 2006, 147 fewer than the year before.

DHHR says the oldest groom was 96, and the oldest bride was 89.

The youngest groom was 16 and the youngest bride was 14.

They report 9,191 divorces that year, down from 9,269.

One couple got divorced that had been married for 56 years.

The department says the youngest person to receive a divorce in 2006 was a 13-year-old girl, the oldest a 93-year-old woman.

West Virginia births exceeded deaths for the third straight year.

In 2006 there were 20,931 births and 20,649 deaths.

The oldest man to die was 103 and the oldest woman was 107. There were 17 men aged 100 or older who died in 2006, compared to 115 women.