Five couples at small church celebrate 60-plus years of marriage
Trinity Luthern Church of Albany has become home of long-term valentine’s
By Gypsy Crow
ALBANY — In modern-day America, where right around 50 percent of all marriages now end in divorce, it’s becoming tougher and tougher to find couples who’ve stuck to the “til death do us part” vow.
But within the small congregation of Trinity Lutheran Church in Albany, there is a close-knit band of couples that has celebrated more than 60 years of wedded bliss. Along with their lengthy marriages, all of the couples share the common bonds of military service and church service.
Spring is indeed in the air at Trinity Lutheran, and there is the kind of love present that can be described as everlasting.
Richard and Mary Grebel will have been married 65 years in June. They have a large family of five children, 16 grandchildren, and 23 great-grandchildren. Richard Grebel was a farmer, and Mary was the daughter of a Swiss cheese maker and lived above a cheese factory in Wisconsin. They met when she was a freshman in high school. He waited for her, and they were married the day after her graduation.
To the Grebels, it is important to keep busy and to keep busy within their means. They live an active life together from beekeeping to being involved with Scouts. They do everything as a family, and have kept this tradition alive with their many great-grandchildren.
Drew and Harriet Lansberry are also celebrating their anniversary in June. They were married in 1952. The couple has two children, three grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren. They met at a roller skating rink in Pennsylvania, where they fell in love. The Air Force life took them all over the country and taught them that home is never about where you live but whom you live there with.
In 1960, the warm weather and the sweet Southern charm led them to Albany, which they still call home to this day. For them, life is about flexibility, growth and working together as a team.
Lynn and Anna McCracken, who will be celebrating 61 years together this April, have three children, five grandchildren and five great-grandchildren. They met in their hometown, where they lived close to each other. For Lynn, who served in the Air Force, it was love at first sight, and it wasn’t long before he returned to make Anna his partner for the rest of their lives.
Harold and Harriet Walton met their 60-year milestone in February. They have three children, five grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren. Harold’s sister, who worked with Harriet at the time, introduced the couple. They dated and decided to get married because being together felt natural, like it was just supposed to be that way. Harold Walton’s Marine Corps career took them all over the world. Harriet was able to visit him while he was stationed in Japan.
For the Waltons, the best part of being married for so many years is the security the other person provides.
Lorene and Dale Hoffman have been together for 65 years. They have three children, five grandchildren, and seven great-grandchildren. They met when he came to her old church, and she and her close friend made a bet over who would get to date him. She won, and they have been inseparable ever since. Lorene said she fell in love with his “beautiful hazel eyes and his clean, large hands.”
The Hoffmans have always been active together in the church, even when his deployment took them as far as Iran. She talks about the time they were “young and foolish,” driving up to Alaska once in the dead of winter. Respect is a key factor in this relationship along, with the understanding that no one messes with her spice cabinet.
Talking with the Trinity Lutheran couples, more than once the phrase “never go to bed angry” was mentioned. The couples said that young marrieds hoping for longevity must be patient and ready to compromise. There will be problems along the road, but working together, they can conquer anything.
Couples must be caring, and love their family with all of their heart, the couples said. Finally, they noted, individuals must be willing to give his or her partner space whenever they need it. These are the qualities in a lasting marriage that all of these couples had in common.
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