Celebrating 1,200 Years of Marriage

Couples living at Vintage Senior Living at The Wellington in Laguna Hills celebrated a collective 1,200 years of marriage on Thursday. 

The 18 couples, who have all been married more than 65 years, celebrated life, love and shared a few secrets to a lasting relationship.

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When Steve Glass, 94, first met his wife, Kit (Katherine), 90, he was in college and working as a coal miner.

“When I first laid eyes on her I was worried because I had coal under my finger nails,” he said. “I didn’t want to contaminate her. But I still asked her to dance and found out that Mennonite girls couldn’t’ dance.”

The two then laughed about their first dance together and Kit shared a story about one of their first dates.

“I remember one day when we went out for lunch and it was time for dessert,” she said. “He ordered a single piece of pie and didn’t even share it with me. He didn’t have enough money for two of them.”

Kit continued:

“I knew that I would have to marry him and take care of him.”

The two were married on March 27, 1943. Their marriage is still strong 68 years later.

“We still hold hands when we sit on the couch together,” Kit said. “We fight fair and never hold grudges. That’s our secret.”

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Lyle, 85, and Lora, 87, Radeleff didn’t meet through e-mail. They met through old fashioned snail mail.

“During the war I was asked to write letters to our troops overseas,” Lora said. “So I wrote a letter.”

Lyle would receive his future wife’s letter a few weeks later. But the circumstances were quite remarkable.

“I was serving in the Solomon Islands in the Marines,” he said. “I was I a foxhole, I had fungus in my ears and sores on my legs that wouldn’t heal. Then my buddy handed me the letter. It was the first intelligent letter I had ever received, so I wrote back.”

The two would continue to write to write to one another for the next two years.

“We always told each other the truth in all of our letters,” Lora said.

Lyle was injured and sent back to the United States during the war. Then he finally met Lora in person.

“We met right after he was out of the hospital,” she said. “On our first date we decided what we would name our four children.”

The two were married in 1945 and have a word of advice for younger couples.

“Respect each other,” Lora said. “Show your love and don’t always want to win an argument.”