Love still endures after six decades of marriage
It all began with a kiss – a big smack on the lips from a woman he had just met, a woman who just happened to be his best friend’s girlfriend.
Will Lorenz was dizzy by the time he made it back to his dorm. When his roommate asked if he was sick, Lorenz smiled and said, “I just met the girl I’m going to marry.”
That kiss took place 65 years ago, in the coffee shop of Columbia College’s John Jay Hall in New York. Lorenz, now 85, remembers it as though it happened yesterday.
It was his birthday, he recalled. “I was headed out the door and I heard footsteps behind me. I turned around. She threw her arms around me and gave me the world’s greatest buster.”
Will and Foxy Lorenz have been married now for 63 years. Along with 23 other couples who have been together for more than six decades, the Lorenzes celebrated their marriage Tuesday during a party at the South Hill’s Rockwood Retirement Communities.
Organized by staff members at the retirement center, the 60-plus anniversary fete was just like a wedding – complete with champagne and a three-tier white cake decorated with peach and white roses. When they entered Rockwood Retirement’s community center, the couples all walked beneath an arbor adorned with cascading flowers. When they left, they were showered with bubbles.
The party gave them a chance to reminisce about the life they’ve shared together – from their first date and the first kiss all the way to retirement, grandchildren and even great-grandchildren.
Robert and Lois Gray, who were married 63 years ago in Seattle, were introduced to each other by their mothers.
“I thought he was nice,” said 89-year-old Lois Gray, recalling the first time she laid eyes on him.
“I thought she was a pretty cute little girl,” replied her 92-year-old spouse.
She was drawn to his thoughtfulness and the way he always looked out for her. He fell immediately for her mind – her ability to speak French and solve whatever problem they encountered. The Grays have three children, four grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
Besides displaying black-and-white photographs of their weddings back in the late 1930s and ‘40s, a few couples also played a game called “Treasured Memories,” a takeoff on TV’s “Newlywed Game” but with much tamer questions such as “What’s your wife’s favorite flower?” or “Who was your husband’s buddy while you were dating?”
Will and Foxy Lorenz had matching answers when it came to answering, “Where was your first kiss?” They also got it right when asked, “What’s the first meal that your future wife cooked for you?”
“She never cooked for me,” Will Lorenz remarked. “You got that right,” Foxy replied with a laugh.
After being together for what seems a lifetime to some, the couples also shared the secrets of marriage bliss and what it takes to stay together.
Marriage requires a lot of give and take, said Wendell Satre, who married his high school sweetheart, Jessie Satre, almost 64 years ago in Post Falls. “Remember that you’re both individuals, even though you’re a married couple,” he advised.
A sense of humor is always a plus, said Eleanor Bergquist. When asked during the game about what initially drew her husband to fall in love with her, Bergquist joked: “Money.”
George, her spouse of 65 years, wrote on a card: “Attitude.”
For the Lorenzes, the key to longevity lies in their shared intellectual pursuits. “It’s been 60 years of laughing and scratching together,” quipped Will Lorenz.
These couples also agree that commitment is essential, especially through the hard times. All of them were married during a time when divorce was rare and people were expected to stay married, said Lois Gray.
“It’s not all wine and roses,” said Eleanor Bergquist. “But if you’re tolerant and you trust each other, you’ll weather through it all and you know you’ve got it made.”