Author Topic: 142 YEARS of marriage-Congrats or something else??  (Read 608 times)

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Offline TribReady

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142 YEARS of marriage-Congrats or something else??
« on: February 13, 2009, 11:13:05 AM »
Valentine’s Day extra special for couples married 142 years

OSSEO, Wis., February 12, 2009—When Al and Marguerite Johnson met many years ago, they knew it was love at first sight. They will celebrate 75 years of marriage this year. Leonard and Lavina Anderson started dating when they were 16 and have been together since. This is the 68th year the couple will be together in marriage.

 The Johnson’s first date was a special memory when Al arrived at Marguerite’s home on one of his Shetland ponies.

 “I wanted to show her how important I was, and I jumped a barbed wire fence and ripped the seat of my pants,” he said with a chuckle.

 Marguerite and Al dated through high school, and in 1934, at a school picnic, decided to walk across the bridge into Winona, Minn., from Wisconsin.

 “We went to a restaurant [in Winona], and there was a Lutheran minister there,” Al said. Al asked the man if he could marry the couple. “He said yes if we had $10 for a marriage license,” Al said.

 And Marguerite responded with a smile, “You still owe me $10.”

 Al found a job working at a bank with his uncle.

 “I shoveled coal, emptied spittoons and waste baskets when I first started there,” Al said. He finished his career there as the bank’s president.

 During their marriage, they had two sons and a daughter. They have nine grandchildren, 18 great grandchildren and seven great-great grandchildren, with another due in April.

Another highlight of their lives, which occurred during Al’s bank president career, was when Al and Marguerite visited Europe on a “People to People” tour during the Eisenhower presidency.

 “We visited many banks to see how other countries ran them,” Al said. While there, they visited six countries, including Great Britain and the former Soviet Union. The three weeks overseas only cost them $1,400.

 Throughout their marriage, the Johnsons lived in Mayfield, Calif., and spent 35 years wintering in Florida.

 “People would ask us how we saved money to go to Florida, and I would tell them: ‘Don’t drink or smoke,’” Al said. They had many friends in Florida and were there last in 2001.

 “We’ve had lots of experiences,” Al said.

 Now the couple is residing at the Luther Midelfort Oakridge facility in Osseo. Al is in the assisted living apartments and goes to see Marguerite everyday in the nursing home, where the couple participates in social activities with the other residents.

 “He is such a good husband to me. I can’t say enough how good a husband Al has been to me,” Marguerite said many times.

 The couple will celebrate 75 years of marriage and also is celebrating a special Valentine’s Day. When asked how they’ll celebrate their 75th anniversary, Al replied,

“Well, I suppose we’ll say good morning and then we’ll say good night.”

  Leonard and Lavina Anderson will also celebrate a special day this year, as they will be married for 68 years. The couple was married in Pigeon Falls in 1941, after they met at a July Fourth celebration.

 “That’s where you picked me up—I was young and foolish,” said Lavina as she laughed about the memory. “I picked her up in my ’32 Chevy, and we didn’t want to stay in Strum because her sister was there,” Leonard said. When they got to his car, the driver’s side window was broken from the heat of the sun.

 “But she kept me warm,” he said. 

 The Andersons farmed for 32 years in Daggett Coulee and Leonard was treasurer for the town of Pigeon for many years.

 “I drove the tractor — I was a farmer’s wife,” Lavina said. One of their specialty crops was growing tobacco for cigars.

 They spoke proudly of their nine grandchildren as Leonard talked about them with a twinkle in his eye. “They all have good jobs, and our last grandson will graduate from high school in 2010.”


The Andersons talked about special trips they’ve taken, as they’ve traveled to every state in the union except Alaska and Florida. They’ve also been to Europe twice and once to Iran.


“I remember walking in Switzerland, and everywhere you went you saw banks and jewelry stores,” Leonard said. After Leonard retired in 1978, the couple wintered in Arizona for 18 years.

 The couple now spends their time at Luther Midelfort Oakridge in Osseo where Lavina is a resident in an assisted living apartment and visits Leonard in the nursing home.

“She comes over to see me at least two or three times a day,” he said.

 The Johnsons and Andersons are still showing the love they share with those special glances and smiles. A hand on a knee, a tap on the arm and a heart felt laugh spawns smiles from and glimpses of the fun they’ve had throughout their lives together. They will celebrate a very special Valentine’s Day this year at Luther Midelfort Oakridge’s Nursing Home facility in Osseo, where both couples will be crowned as Valentine’s Day King and Queen at the coronation at 2:45 on February 13.
A government big enough to give you everything you want is strong enough to take everything you have. -Thomas Jefferson


...if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.  -2 Chronicles 7:14

Offline williamlayton

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Re: 142 YEARS of marriage-Congrats or something else??
« Reply #1 on: February 13, 2009, 01:20:07 PM »
Thanks Trib.
That warmed my heart.
Ann and I have been married for only 46 years.
Blessings
TEXAS, by GOD

Offline Skunk

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Re: 142 YEARS of marriage-Congrats or something else??
« Reply #2 on: February 13, 2009, 01:30:20 PM »
That warmed my heart.

Have to agree with you there William. Marriage and Family, at least in my opinion, is still the greatest institution ever devised.

Good post TR.
Mike

"Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition" - Frank Loesser

Offline torpedoman

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Re: 142 YEARS of marriage-Congrats or something else??
« Reply #3 on: February 13, 2009, 01:42:52 PM »
lord willing this year will be 47 years i'v been blessed with the companionship of the same lovely lady. I'm a real lucky man.
the nation that forgets it defenders will itself be forgotten

Offline LONGTOM

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Re: 142 YEARS of marriage-Congrats or something else??
« Reply #4 on: February 13, 2009, 04:36:07 PM »
It will be 24 years for me and the love of my life with two healthy young boys, ages 16 and 12.
We dated for 7 years prior for a total of 31 years together.
Both her MOTHER & FATHER are still alive and my FATHER is still with us.
He is 80.
My MOTHER left us 17 years ago just before our first son was born.

I wish all a special VALLENTINES DAY and may you & yours spend a life together as full and rich as ours has been!


LONGTOM
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Offline GRIMJIM

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Re: 142 YEARS of marriage-Congrats or something else??
« Reply #5 on: February 14, 2009, 03:39:59 AM »
It'll be 19 for us on April 1st. ;D
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Offline D Crockett

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Re: 142 YEARS of marriage-Congrats or something else??
« Reply #6 on: February 14, 2009, 03:50:10 AM »
I guess we are the young couple on the block with only 15 years of being happily married I hope every one has a happy Valentines day D Crockett

Offline TribReady

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Re: 142 YEARS of marriage-Congrats or something else??
« Reply #7 on: February 14, 2009, 04:31:37 AM »
Great responses....although not what I expected. I expected to see more of the "Holy Smokes, 75 years of marriage, please shoot me first" kind of responses  :o

It is a great story about these 2 couples, and refreshing to see a bunch of you admiring them like that, and hoping/praying for the same in your marriages.  BTW, we're approaching 17 years this summer  :o  :)
A government big enough to give you everything you want is strong enough to take everything you have. -Thomas Jefferson


...if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.  -2 Chronicles 7:14

Offline MSP Ret

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Re: 142 YEARS of marriage-Congrats or something else??
« Reply #8 on: February 14, 2009, 05:12:51 AM »
We had 40 years this past November and I consider myself blessed. Thanks God....<><....:)
"Giving up your gun to someone else on demand is called surrender. It means that you have given up your ability to protect yourself to a power that is greater than you." - David Yeagley

Offline Graybeard

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Re: 142 YEARS of marriage-Congrats or something else??
« Reply #9 on: February 14, 2009, 10:07:56 AM »
This year will be 44 for us on Sep. 3.


Bill aka the Graybeard
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Offline GRIMJIM

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Re: 142 YEARS of marriage-Congrats or something else??
« Reply #10 on: February 14, 2009, 12:47:43 PM »
Great responses....although not what I expected. I expected to see more of the "Holy Smokes, 75 years of marriage, please shoot me first" kind of responses  :o


My friend was married for 13 years and he always said it seemed like 13 minutes. All under water. ;D
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Offline Heather

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Re: 142 YEARS of marriage-Congrats or something else??
« Reply #11 on: February 14, 2009, 01:35:30 PM »
WISHING YOU AND YOURS A

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!

Heather
Strive for complete serenity in all aspects of life.
www.mymartialartsplus.com

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Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and loose both...Ben Franklin

Offline williamlayton

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Re: 142 YEARS of marriage-Congrats or something else??
« Reply #12 on: February 14, 2009, 11:55:55 PM »
MY TAKE ON MARRIAGE
Boys, and, er, well gals :-[, is that it is a hard headed business.
You got too be stubborn and want to make it work cause feelings will let you down, almost every time.
Now, I am the luckiest old SOB (silly ol bill) in the world. The Hen, my wife Ann, should have killed me many times over the years. I married a solid woman and I knew it when I met her. Good values and stubborn as a mule.
Feeling won't stand up too most of life's problems in marriage, they just ain't strong enough. It is commitment and hard heads that stay together. You just got to make it work.
I see many of my contemporaries and young folks that seem too be looking for feelings. Love, sexual, Europa those feelings that will let you down in a heat. Love is the most misunderstood word ever created and I give satan the credit for so much distortion of this word.
Heck folks, I don't walk around with those kinds of feelings of love  all of the times. Heck, sometimes I don't even like the Hen and there are plenty of times we have gotten real mad at each other.
I have much respect for her, we walk the same path, often stepping in each others tracks. We have the same goals. We seek the same things.
You can't just go out and marry an old gal because she turns you on. Those feelings only last a short while every now and then. Lest often these days.
Find you a good solid woman, she will hang in there when you go crazy.
Blessings
TEXAS, by GOD