Some husbands and wives spend years trying to finally make that connection and go on that first date that seals their future, far after they’ve initially met. Other times, fate drops your spouse-to-be right in front of you if you pay attention. In this edition of Senior Love Stories, GrandPad reveals the impact that random luck can have on relationships that last a lifetime. We know that every moment counts, and we help seniors capture and share every moment with those they love. Read on to hear about the moment Mary met the love of her life.
“Love the One You’re With” wasn’t going to be released for 40 more years, so Mary hadn’t heard the sentiment expressed so concisely before. At the time, she had been going on dates regularly with one gentleman, but her good friend was insistent that she go on a blind date with someone else, who Mary friend insisted would be a good match for her. Though Mary had “been going steady with someone else,” as she tells it, she finally caved in to her friend’s demands and met her future husband Owen for an awkward first date.
Recalling their first date, Mary notes that the conversation was as start-and-stop as any arranged blind date. Finding they didn’t have much to talk about, after they ate they went to see a movie at the drive-in theater. When asked what film they saw together, Mary laughs, stating: “oh, heavens no. I’m now 97 years old. I forget a lot!”
Luckily, he persisted in courting her, and after a few dates the conversation wasn’t stilted anymore. They quietly married soon after they first met. “It was 1931, or something like that,” Mary recalls. The date wasn’t particularly important – it was the feeling of finding someone who she could share her life with.
Soon after they married, they gave birth to their first daughter. Owen enlisted, and served in the 82nd Airborne Division in World War II. Mary worked at the Census Bureau and anxiously awaited her husband’s safe return from afar. Shortly after he came home, the couple gave birth to their second daughter. Mary asserts that their two children are the fruits of a wonderful marriage.
She finds it hard to believe that anyone would answer anything other than “our children” when asked what the most rewarding aspect of a marriage is. She comments that, if she had done anything differently, she would have stopped being “so bossy,” remembering how she always wanted to be in charge. She adds, “you have to talk things out!”
Unfortunately, Mary’s husband suffered a stroke in 2003, and passed away peacefully at a nursing home approximately one year later. Their beautiful marriage lasted 63 years, and Mary fondly cherishes every memory she has. Remarking on Valentine’s Day, Mary gleefully recounts that one year, her husband had signed his full name inside the card, despite the fact that they were married. “It seemed so odd,” she says with a smile on her face.
Mary now has her two daughters to keep her company, but the lack of mobility as a senior can always cause frustrations. With a love as enduring as Mary and Owen’s, the love naturally passes down to the children. At GrandPad we eliminate all of the difficulties of modern technology to connect seniors with those they love most with just the touch of a screen. Video-chatting, emailing, and sharing photos with family you love has never been easier.
Valentine’s Day may be the yearly observance of true love, but as anyone who has been married as long as Mary has can attest, love is expressed and preserved by acts of kindness and grace every day. Express your love for someone in your life with the gift of a GrandPad: the gift that keeps giving.