A special photo shoot to celebrate 60 years of marriage
KEARNEY, Neb. — After 60 years of marriage, Marvin and Lucille Stone celebrated their anniversary with a very special photo shoot, which soon went viral online.
In the photos, captured by Katie Autry Photography, the couple wore their original wedding outfits, including the dress handsewn by the bride.
“The thing that took the longest was making 52 buttons that are on the sleeves and down the back,” said Lucille.
In 1960, at nearly 29 and 22 years old, Marvin and Lucille got married at a little Lutheran Church in Sterling, Nebraska.
“It was a typical wedding. We had a pastor who was in his first ceremony wedding... and he was a little shook but he did it and we were married,” said Marvin.
“My dad cried. He was the only one that cried," said Lucille. "My mother beamed and they both thought Marvin was just perfect, and that does help when your parents like the person that you’re marrying.”
That, and having similar core values.
“We’re both pretty conservative," said Lucille. "We were depression children. He was born at the beginning of the '30s and I came along a few years later for my parents as kind of a surprise baby."
"We both had farm backgrounds. We both were free enterprise people and we had similar goals in life and we were both in teaching," said Marvin. "We had already been in teaching for a while and we were just kind of together in our concepts of what to do and what direction to go and so forth.”
Now, three children and six decades later, the Stone family said their values have remained unchanged and so has their love.
"We don’t always agree but we have the main focus that we’ve always had, so it just kind of moves along," said Marvin. "We have had similar values and so it has worked out pretty well and, I don't know, we never spent any time considering separating."
“From day one we have assumed marriage is forever," said Lucille. "You do what you have to do and by no means have we been perfect in our marriage. We’ve had arguments. We’ve had disagreements, but on the big things we’re pretty much on the same track.”
The couple said over the years they’ve learned avoiding worry, going with the flow and communicating is critical to a successful marriage.
“Use the resources that you have and don’t expect to have everything that you might want," said Lucille. "Focus on the needs along the way and keep the faith keep a positive attitude and do your best.”
