Hettie and Izzy Glass
Married 61 Years

Izzy: I first met Hettie in South Africa, which is where we are both from. I was vacationing at Muizenberg, a seaside resort.
Hettie: I was just a lanky, red-headed girl with a face full of freckles back then.
Izzy: But after vacation was over, we lost touch. About eight years passed, and I was working as a pharmacist in Johannesburg when Hettie’s father just so happened to walk into my pharmacy. He remembered me from that summer vacation. He told me the family was there in Johannesburg visiting family, and he invited me to come visit Hettie.
Hettie: Now you have to remember, eight years had passed, and we hadn’t seen each other since we were kids. I was surprised he even recognized me.
Izzy: Oh, Hettie looked very different. She didn’t look like a schoolgirl any longer. That ugly little duckling had blossomed into a lovely swan. She was just lovely.
Hettie: And I remember how handsome and tall he was. I especially remember liking how tall he was because all the men in my family were tall, so I wanted to marry a tall man.
Izzy: After we were reunited, we corresponded and visited each other when we could.
Hettie: We got married and had a small, lovely wedding. After the honeymoon, Izzy continued working as a pharmacist, and I continued working as a teacher. We raised our son there in South Africa.
Izzy: Our son is actually what brought us here to Dallas. Our son is a doctor, and this is where he practices. We have been here about 15 years now. The transition was not easy, but I feel we’re well adjusted now.
Hettie: Oh yes, and we stay busy with volunteering. We work with the preschoolers at the Jewish Community Center. I have been a pianist since I was young, so I play the piano there, and Izzy sings with them. We’ve also taught them a few dances. I have actually taught them to do the boogie-woogie.
Izzy: We also sing with the senior choir there. I sing, but I’m no star.
Hettie: And when we’re not volunteering, we spend our free time together. We enjoy going on walks, although that has become more difficult with age. We get on well, but we do have our moments. In a marriage, you must be tolerant, even when mistakes happen, because everyone makes mistakes. If you want to be happy in a marriage, you have to accept that there is a give and take.
Izzy: That’s right: The man gives, and the woman takes.”
Hettie: Do you see what I mean about being tolerant?
Izzy: We have actually had a wonderful life together. We’ve traveled; we raised a son together; and more than anything, we’ve been happy and healthy together. What more could you ask for?

Wilma and Ron Honea
Married 52 Years

Wilma: Ron came to Houston as part of a tour of American colleges and universities. One of my girlfriends was dating Ron’s roommate. Well, that roommate got injured during an intramural football game. So my girlfriend and I drove him home and helped him make it into his apartment. My girlfriend asked me to help her clean the place up a bit, just to be nice. Next thing I know, in walks Ron, and he says: “Well, it’s about time someone cleaned up the dump.”
Ron: Well, it was true.
Wilma: But see, I wasn’t doing any cleaning; my girlfriend was.
Ron: Yes, you were. When I came in, you were sweeping up the beer cans.
Wilma: I guess we remember it differently then. But after Ron walked in, we all sat there and dined on soda, beer, biscuits and jelly.
Ron: Yeah, back then you could get a whole can of biscuits for 10 cents.
Wilma: So Ron and I started talking. He didn’t know many people on campus, and I didn’t have a car, so he offered to start picking me up from work, and of course, I let him. That’s how we started dating.
Ron: And after all, the poor thing needed a date.
Wilma: Ha, very funny — but I don’t think so! Anyhow, when the semester ended, he told me he wouldn’t come back and see me unless I took his fraternity pin.
Ron: You stole that pin from me.
Wilma: Oh, I did no such thing. You gave it to me. I kept that fraternity pin, and we stayed in touch. Ron would drive down and visit me, and we’d write letters to each other. That’s really how we got to know each other. But one thing Ron failed to mention in all those letters was that his great, true love was hunting and fishing. He never talked about it.
Ron: I knew you weren’t interested in it, so I never brought it up.
Wilma: But I figured out just how much he loved hunting and fishing early on in the marriage. We got married in January, but Ron was still in college, so he had to go back to school, and we never got to have a honeymoon. To make up for it, he planned a big trip for my birthday, which is in May. The big trip he planned for us was a fishing trip in Galveston. Now as a woman, you can imagine my excitement when I learned that.
Ron: Yeah, that one didn’t go over too well.
Wilma: That’s probably one of our biggest differences. He loves being outdoors, and I love being inside, preferably shopping. If we were ever to sign up for one of those online dating sites today, I don’t think Ron and I would ever be matched together, we have too many different interests — but we do have the same values and faith, so I think that has helped us make it this long.
Ron: That and the fact that we agreed long ago that whoever leaves this marriage first has to take all the kids with them.
Wilma: Yeah, that was always an ongoing joke with us.
Ron: But I do have to say, Wilma did a wonderful job raising our three daughters. I put in long hours running my father’s air conditioning business, so Wilma was on her own with the girls a lot — but I don’t think she could have done a better job.
Wilma: And now that the girls are grown, we are keeping busy with the things we enjoy, and we’re active in our church. We’ve had a great life. We’ve been blessed with great kids, beautiful grandkids, wonderful friends, we’ve traveled — there’s not much room to complain. I still can’t believe it’s been 50 years, but it’s been a great 50 years, and counting.
 
Helen and David Lodwick
Married 54 Years

David: I first saw Helen on our college campus at the University of Iowa. I noticed her right away. I thought she was the most beautiful girl I’d ever seen, and I still think that.”
Helen: Oh my, I didn’t know this was going to be so romantic.
David: Well, it’s true. I thought she was beautiful from the first moment I saw her, but I didn’t approach her.
Helen: No, but as it turned out, we crossed paths again at a social event soon after.
David: Yes, I was in a fraternity, and my pledge father said he had the perfect girl he wanted me to meet, and it turned out to be Helen.
Helen: So when David was introduced to me, two things went through my mind: He’s tall, and he’s cute.
David: We hit it off and started dating, but that year, I left the university to attend West Point.”
Helen: Now let me just state for the record that he elected to go to West Point; I did not drive him away.
David: Oh no, she didn’t drive me away at all. And in fact, we kept in touch while I was at West Point.
Helen: When we were engaged, I got a phone call from a TV show called “Name’s the Same.” It was a game show for people who had the same name as celebrities, and my maiden name is Helen Hays, like the actress Helen Hayes, only my last name is spelled differently. Anyhow, while I was talking to one of the show’s producers, I mentioned I was engaged to a cadet at West Point. That’s when they asked if we’d be interested in a different quiz show for couples. I talked it over with David, and we agreed to go on the TV show.
David: We ended up winning $2,205 on that TV show. It was the most money anyone had ever won on a TV show back then. It was a lot of money back then.”
Helen: After the show we got married, and then we reported to David’s first military assignment in Texas. That’s where I gave birth to our first son. We ended up having three sons and one daughter.
David: After my time in the military, I went on to work as an industrial engineer, then I worked as an operations executive and in international operations.”
Helen: And I stayed busy with four kids at home. It was the baby boom right after the war, though, so there were lots of young families with lots of kids. It was a fun time.
David: Now our four children are grown, and we have 13 grandchildren. We love being grandparents. This is a great time of life and of our marriage.
Helen: Oh most certainly, we have such a comfort in our marriage now. We’ve traveled all over the world together, and we really are best friends, we’re compadres.
David: I also think we’ve also learned not to let the little things get to us. In a marriage, you can’t let the little things get to you, or even the big things, for that matter, because it’ll just fester and spoil the marriage. I think we’ve made it 54 years because of our faith, our friendship and our love for each other. We were goofy in love the day we got married, and we’re still goofy in love.