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After all these years
Published February 13, 2010
According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the longest marriage lasted 86 years.
And, for four local couples, they have 271 combined years of marriage among them.
The Falconers: 61 years
Floyd, 98, and Jane Falconer, 88, who reside at Merrill Gardens in Albertville, will celebrate their 61st Valentine’s Day together on Sunday.
Floyd, who is from South Dakota, met Jane, from Quincy, Ill., while both worked at the arsenal at Rock Island, Ill.
“It seems Floyd saw me with ‘another man’ at a city-sponsored dance, and must have decided he better grab me while he could. So he asked me out, and it seemed everything clicked,” Jane said.
The couple married Sept. 25 1948, in The Little Brown Church in the Vale in Nashua, Iowa. They honeymooned in St. Louis, Mo., by going to a Cardinals baseball game.
Eventually, in 1960, Floyd was transferred to Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, where he worked until he retired at age 58.
A move to Albertville preceded them moving to Merrill Gardens.
Jane said their secret to a lasting marriage is that they never argue. She said they always agreed on most things.
“We also had good examples, in that both our parents were married for more than 50 years,” Jane said.
The Falconers have two girls, Carol Weeks and Linda Mixon, four grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.
The Hodgens: 64 years
Aubrey, 87, and Syble Hodgens, 83, will celebrate their 64th wedding anniversary on Monday.
According to Syble, the couple met the first time as teenagers at church.
Aubrey dated a cousin of Syble’s, while Syble dated Aubrey’s brother. Aubrey didn’t seriously notice Syble until he returned from three years of service with the Army Air Corps in World War II.
“We met on the street in Albertville one day and he asked me for a date the next night. Only he didn’t wait until the next night – he came the next morning to take me out,” Syble said.
“We dated for a short time and then he asked me to marry him at my house. I wasn’t expecting it, but I said yes,” Syble said.
“Then he walked straight away and asked my dad, who said it was alright.”
The couple married Feb. 15, 1946, and moved to the farm Aubrey purchased in New Harmony, where they still live today.
Two of the secrets to their lasting marriage: church and no arguing.
“I never wanted to argue, and he never did. And we never wanted our children to hear us fussing. If we did, I forgot,” Syble said.
The couple has attended New Harmony Baptist Church ever since they married. With exception of a period from November 2009 until January 2010, the couple hasn’t missed a day.
The couple has three children, Tony, Sandra and Larry, three grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
The Winkles: 69 years
As of Sunday, Ocie and Geneva Winkles will have celebrated 69 valentine’s days together.
Living on the same road and going to school together, it wasn’t until she was 20 years old that Ocie began to take a serious interest in her, according to Geneva.
“Once he did, it took less than a year for him to ask me to marry him,” Geneva said.
The couple married Sept. 25, 1941.
“Folks didn’t take honeymoons in those days,” Geneva said.
The couple lived with Ocie’s parents for a short time, but has lived in the same Whitesville Road house for 51 years.
What is the secret to their 69-year marriage?
“We have had a good marriage, I guess, because we just accepted each other. Our going to church has also kept our marriage strong,” Geneva said.
The Winkles have two children, Diane Akins and Larry Allen Winkles, two grandchildren and two great grandchildren.
The Morrows: 77 years
L.F. “Jack” Morrow, 97, and Georgie Bell Morrow, 91, have been married for 77 years. They have lived in the same house, near Pleasant Grove, since 1939.
“We lived out in the country back then, and we just sorta met,” Georgie Bell said.
“We got married on my (Georgie Bell’s) birthday on Jan. 21, 1933, in preacher Burt Mahan’s house in Pleasant Grove. He was Jack’s uncle. It was Jack’s birthday the next day, Jan. 22,” she said.
“My daddy had a house, so we got a little furniture and moved in and started housekeeping,” she said.
The couple’s first house was destroyed by fire five years after they married.
“But Jack farmed and we worked through it,” she said.
Their family eventually grew to include four children, L.G. Morrow, Della Hovey, Margie Oliver and Nell Canady. They have six grandchildren, 13 great-grandchildren and six great-great grandchildren.
“The biggest thing is, if you do right, God will help you out,” Georgie Bell said.
“We have always got along. I have always tried to please him, and he has always been a good husband,” she said.
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