Huckleberries Online

They Died As They Lived — Together

Posted by DFO

Feb. 3, 2009 1:17 p.m. • 34 comments

What got to me was the walk to the mailbox. Robert and Darlene Moser did it, hand in hand, every day of their 62-year marriage, save for the days when the mail wasn’t delivered. At night, they spooned together on the couch, Robert setting his feet on a stool they put at the end, just so he could fit beside his bride. On Jan. 23, Darlene Moser, 80, succumbed to cancer. Six hours later, Robert, 84, followed her in death. The five children they left behind are smiling through tears. “You know, there is so much joy in this,” their daughter, Marie Townsend, told me yesterday when I called the Mosers’ home in Kingston, Kitsap County. “It helps balance the grief for us because this was their prayer. “They prayed together that God would honor their marriage as they had”/Nicole Brodeur, Seattle Times. More here.

Question: Do you know a long-married couple whose life together epitomizes what marriage should be about?

34 comments on this post so far. Add yours!

Bent on February 03 at 1:30 p.m.
My wife’s mother passed away last year after 53 of marriage to her husband. She rocked…

If I could wind up even half successful as they were, I would feel accomplished.
JohnA on February 03 at 2:07 p.m.
My folks are going on 62 years of marriage, also, although theirs has not been as smooth as the Mosers’. Despite that, through the good times and the bad times they held it together, raising six kids along the way. I’m proud they made it this long. I just hope there’s many more years ahead.
Cabbage Boy on February 03 at 2:12 p.m.
40 years together for my parents. Not all smooth, but still together and finding happiness.

I really could have done without the spooning comment tho.
Cindy_H on February 03 at 2:24 p.m.
My parents had 43 years together until my dad died. Their marriage was a great example to me and my three siblings. Even though it’s been 14 years since his death, my mom often says, “I’m still so in love with your dad.”

And CB, I hope your comments don’t revive the Great Spooning Debate at my house. I’ve always used the term spooning/cuddling interchangeably. My off-hand reference to this activity evoked shocked outrage from my sons at the dinner table a few weeks ago. Who knew spooning could be used to describe other activities?
Sheesh.
I blame the public schools.
JeanieSpokane on February 03 at 2:27 p.m.
I LOVE spooning! But then my partner has to be a whole lot thinner for me to not slide off the couch. It kind of takes away from the romance a bit.
Cabbage Boy on February 03 at 2:44 p.m.
Cindy, perhaps they were confusing “spooning” with “forking”?

I may or may not enjoy such activities as spooning or cuddling, but I sure hope my honor is not tarnished by people mentioning said activity when the remember me on the internets.
Kage_Mann on February 03 at 3:28 p.m.
Everybody,should know by now that the word ‘Spooning’ is almost always used in a sexual topic of conversation.

To use the word ‘spooning’ at the dinner table is showing bad taste.It’s repulsive for a parent to use such a term in front of their children IMO.
DFO on February 03 at 3:32 p.m.
Kage Mann; I looked up “spooning” in my slang dictionary. No sexual connoctation. BTW, another term used by my elders during my formative years was “sparking.”
Kage_Mann on February 03 at 3:48 p.m.
DFO- I just asked my significant other what she thought of the word ‘spooning’ and she mentioned cuddling also.Maybe,the word means different things to different genders.With males thinking it’s a sexual reference and females think it’s a cuddling reference.
Cindy_H on February 03 at 3:54 p.m.
Kage, I so appreciate your parenting opinons. Feel free to elaborate. I can hardly wait.
JohnA on February 03 at 3:59 p.m.
Kage, I’m not sure it’s a good thing that what you think is sex your partner thinks is ‘cuddling’. Sounds like there’s a disconnect there, in more ways than one. ;)
Bent on February 03 at 4:13 p.m.
Since when has spooning been sexual? I’ve been out of the loop too long..
JeanieSpokane on February 03 at 4:58 p.m.
Try this. Take two spoons and lay them side by side, nestling the one’s out curve into the inner curve of the other. Totally nonsexual, and very romantic. Plus it is good for turning down the heat on your money-eating furnace.

http://media.urbandictionary.com/image/page/spooning-34097.jpg
Transplanted_Texan on February 03 at 5:04 p.m.
That’s so sweet! It reminds me of a passage from Kurt Vonnegut’s “Cat’s Cradle” where he wrote about a type of couple so close that they always die within 24 hours of each other. Basically, he said we’re all members of a cohort - a karass, I think he called it? - and some cohorts have millions of people but others only have two. This couple is exactly what he was writing about, how wonderful!
Transplanted_Texan on February 03 at 5:05 p.m.
Not sure about the gender thing, Kage. Maybe, but I’ve heard my female friends use it enough that sex certainly isn’t what leaps to my mind.
Escapee on February 03 at 9:52 p.m.
Moon, June, Spoon.

Many times, in the personal ads, you’ll read about someone who “likes to cuddle”. I’m pretty sure they’re not referring to “spooning” unless “spooning” is sort of a “deluxe-cuddle”. I’ll throw a new old term into the mix…how about “petting”? And where does “petting” fit into the great Spoon-Cuddle debate? An old Lee Morse song from the 1930’s, “Pettin’ In The Park” sings the refrain thusly: “Pettin in the park…bad girl…Pettin’ in the park…bad boy…” But if they were just petting, how could they be Bad? Unless, maybe they were doing some deluxe Petting which bordered more or less on ‘Spooning’ or really intense ‘Cuddling’?
thawtfulreader on February 03 at 11:14 p.m.
good lord, spooning is a completely natural wonderful form of passive cuddling and relaxation.

« Back to Huckleberries Online

You must be logged in to post comments.
Please create a profile or log in here.

About this blog

D.F. Oliveria is a columnist and blogger for The Spokesman-Review. Huckleberries Online was judged the best 2008 Idaho newspaper blog by the Idaho Press Club. And the best 2007 news blog in the Pacific Northwest by the Society for Professional Journalist. Print Huckleberries is a past winner of the Herb Caen Memorial Column contest by the National Association of Newspaper Columnists. The Readership Institute of Northwestern University cited this blog as a good example of online community journalism.