The speaker is a teenager acting as the silent observer and narrator of the poem. As the niece or nephew of the grieving widower, the speaker possesses limited life experience regarding long-term romantic commitment. The speaker watches the uncle's emotional outburst with a mixture of surprise and slight embarrassment. This silent observation provides the lens through which the reader views the older generation's enduring romance.

The uncle is an elderly man mourning the death of his eighty-seven-year-old wife. Typically a quiet and restrained individual, his intense grief over losing his life partner breaks his usual composure. He repeats phrases of loss and shares an intimate memory of New Year's Eve to articulate his sorrow. His mourning demonstrates the depth of a sixty-year marital bond.

The aunt is the recently deceased wife of the uncle, passing away at the age of eighty-seven. She shared a sixty-year marriage with her husband, maintaining a strong bond throughout their lives. She appears in the text through a specific memory where she cries at midnight on New Year's Eve. These tears reflect her awareness that their time together is finite.