An Alabama couple is celebrating a truly rare milestone — 80 years of marriage!
George and Louise Dennis of Dothan were married on Feb. 4, 1944, shortly after meeting as teenagers, according to local news outlet WTVY.
George said he first saw his bride-to-be when he was 16 years old when he was delivering newspapers to her house on his route.
“There she was standing on that porch. It was a beautiful sight, I’ll tell you. Beautiful,” the outlet recalled.
They started dating and soon decided to sneak away to Bonifay, Florida to run away without their parents’ permission. Then they came home and announced the surprising news.
“I said, ‘Well, we went and got married.’ Oh, you could hear her [Louise’s mother] screaming clean from Dothan,” George jokingly recalled.
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Although he can laugh about it now, both their families tried to intervene at the time. However, they eventually secured Louise’s father’s blessing and began their married life together.
Eight decades later, George confirmed that running away from Louise was one of the smartest decisions he ever made.
“It was the best thing that ever happened to me when I met you,” George Louise said, according to WTVY.
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Just months after their wedding, the couple faced another major test of their relationship: George was drafted to serve in World War II.
Before he left, they swore that they would never be apart again when the war was over.
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In December 1944, Dennis was seriously injured when he tripped over a land mine. In the end, he lost part of his leg and returned home to continue treatment.
“16 months was a time filled with operations and treatment. Sometimes, a month and a half, six weeks, eight weeks, three months apart and he would come home to recover during that time,” Louise told WTVY.
They faced another difficult moment when their daughter Crystal, whom they adopted in 1952, died in an accident involving a horse. “You never, ever get over losing a child,” Louis said.
When asked about the secret to their long marriage, the couple, who have owned a rug business together for more than 40 years, credited their faith — and one very important principle.
“Tell the husband to say ‘Yes, dear,'” George joked.
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Source: HIS Education