Thank you all so much for your input, experience and expert advice. It has been fascinating to read all of your responses. It gave me a real sense of the love that quilters seem to have for their machines. I suppose they are almost a part of the family in some ways. Wonderful to hear of the 1951 Singers and the older machines that were truly built to last. Let's hope that present day machines can do as well.
For those who don't know, we ended up buying a kenmore that was on sale. So far my wife is very happy with it and is "bonding" as she learns the skills needed. What she has done so far is beautiful and I can only guess what it will look like once it is all together.
Thank you all so much for your help with this. The quilting community here seems to be a friendly and loving place. Many thanks and blessings to all of you who are passing on your stories to others through your quilting.
Tom