Wedding Anniversary

After writing my last blog about cousins who have died relatively young (at least younger than I am now), I thought I’d write one on a much happier subject – long-lived marriages among my relatives. This July will mark my 45^th anniversary. While traditionally that is not one of the “significant” anniversaries such as 40^th (Ruby) or 50^th (Gold), I’m told that the jeweler’s association calls it the Sapphire anniversary (in order to sell more jewelry I suppose). But here is a look at my immediate relatives who have long marriages. (Note that some of the years below may be off by one since I don’t always have the exact date of the marriage, etc.)

My father’s relatives

While my father’s parents divorced and re-married, thus not ever celebrating the length of marriage that qualifies as “long” in this blog, there were other of his relatives that did so. (I’m going to name them as I knew them, so the “great” that belongs in front of some of these is missing.)

49 years – Aunt Loretta and Uncle George Macnaught

63 years – Aunt Pauline and Uncle Harold Scott

51 years – Aunt Dot and Uncle Bob Hill

60 years – my parents (actually just a couple of days less than 60)

My mother’s relatives

My mother’s family was marked by many long marriages, including all of my mother’s siblings.

50 years – Grammy and Grampy Pierpont (cut short by his premature death due to an accident)

58 years – Uncle Zeke and Aunt Babs

38 years – Aunt Alie and Uncle Joe (she married later in life)

65 years – Uncle Dick and Aunt Trudy

54 years – Aunt Vi and Uncle Tony

My wife’s family

My wife’s relatives included numerous divorces and re-marriages, so among her close relatives, only her parents had the long marriage that you can see was common in my family as listed above. This trend of divorces (and in one case death due to cancer) has continued among my wife’s siblings, so none of her siblings will ever be on this list.

60 years – Charles and Mary VanDeCar

The current generation

The tradition of long marriages among my mother’s relatives will be continuing, as I have several siblings and cousins who have already passed the 30 year mark and may eventually pass me depending on how long each of us lives. I wish all of them many more years together so that we may each celebrate our Ruby/Sapphire/Gold/Emerald/Diamond/etc. anniversaries. (The years are how many years I believe each of us will be celebrating in 2016, hope I got these right and haven’t forgotten anyone).

45 years – my wife and I (July 17^th)

35 years – my brother Chuck and his wife Joanne

33 years – my brother Edd and his wife Ingrid

45 years – my cousin Dave and his wife Bev (in June – he’s got a four week head-start on me!)

35 years – my cousin Rob and his wife Judi

43 years – my cousin Cindy and her husband Chris

34 years – my cousin Ron and his wife Nadine