A 70th Wedding Anniversary
/My parents have been married 70 years this month. We’re celebrating on a smaller scale than their 50th in keeping with the types of gatherings they enjoy now. We’ll be having mini-celebrations spread over several days around one big meal with most of the immediate family. I’m thinking about various perspectives of their 70 years together.
There are contrasts between their growing up years and personalities:
He was an only child of 1 generation US citizens and didn’t speak English until he started school; she had 8 brothers/sisters and many in her family had been in the US since the Revolutionary War (or before).
She was gregarious, he was more introverted. That aspect of their personalities has continued with her doing most of the talking!
He grew up on a farm and she grew up in town.
She had part time work at the drug store in town while she was in high school; at the same time, he was using farm profits to buy land, cars, and an airplane.
Going to Stillwater for college was the farthest she’d been from home; he had made road trips to Tennessee and other places.
But some aspects were similar:
They went to small town schools where there was only a small group of students at each grade level (she in northeastern Oklahoma and he in western Oklahoma).
Their parents had elementary educations, except for my maternal grandmother who had graduated from high school.
They were the first in their families to go to college.
They were close to their families and sustained relationships with them after marriage.
They spent their first few years of married life in Oklahoma: Stillwater for my dad to finish college, back to the farm in Willow where my dad had grown up, and then to Muskogee for my dad’s job. The following 67-68 years were in Texas: 15 years in Wichita Falls, 21 years in Dallas, and the rest in Carrollton. There were 7 houses during the Texas years. My mother returned to college and got her first degree when they were living in Wichita Falls…her masters after they moved to Dallas.
They started out their life together with a single income but by the 1970s they were a 2-income family to support their 4 daughters through K-12 and then undergraduate degrees. They retired in their 60s – enjoying grandchildren and travel and participating in various home improvement/maintenance projects.
They are still living independently (with increasing support from their children and grandchildren) in the house they purchased shortly after they retired.
The whole family is benefiting from their example of aging gracefully together!
