GLOVER, Vt. (WCAX) – A Northeast Kingdom couple is celebrating a milestone — a 70th anniversary.
“I had my eye on her and I finally decided I would ask her if she wanted to go to the square dance with me across the lake from the town hall,” recalled Wayne French, Westmore:
The 95-year-old and his wife, Nan, celebrated their platinum anniversary Wednesday at Union House Nursing Home in Glover.
”One thing I am extremely proud of and grateful for is the fact that we have had a marriage, not perfect, but we have had a marriage that right down the line has been a good one,” Wayne said
The two met in August of 1951 at a girls’ camp on Lake Willoughby. He was working as a handyman and she as a camp counselor and they have been together ever since.
“They ask me, what is your secret? We never held a grudge. We always go along. I mean, we had an argument one minute, the next minute we’d be sitting down to a happy meal,” Wayne said.
The couple — and their children have lived throughout the Northeast, eventually settling down in Westmore. They decided to retire near Lake Willoughby where they first met, moving to the nursing home last year.
“I knew that we had to celebrate that because that is a major milestone for anybody. I guess there was a little hope in me that by telling their story, the younger folks that are growing up and getting ready to do it might put a little more work into it,” said Shawn Hallisey with Union House.
And now the couple are just focused on the time they have left.