
                         THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
                 Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, June 9, 1994                    TAG: 9406070151 
SECTION: NORFOLK COMPASS                     PAGE: 04    EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: BY JOAN C. STANUS, STAFF WRITER 
DATELINE: 940609                                 LENGTH: Medium

STILL SAYING `I DO': AFTER 67 YEARS, COUPLE REAFFIRM VOWS

{LEAD} Henry Privott admits part of the reason he and his wife, Daisy, have been married for 67 years is because ``she spent a lot of time at church.''

But the true secret of the couple's many years of marital success is fairly simple, the 92-year-old Norfolk man said. ``I did like I said. I told her I'd be here 'til death - and that's what I did.''

{REST} For her part, Daisy Privott, 87, says compromise is the key to holding together a marriage of almost seven decades.

``One has to give way, that's why we stay together,'' she said recently. ``I have to give way on things to him. We don't ever want to separate.''

Sweethearts since childhood, the Privotts celebrated 67 years of marriage May 14 with a reaffirmation of their wedding vows at a meeting hall not far from their Young Terrace home. A celebratory dinner for friends and family members was held afterward.

``They're such an inspiration,'' said Ann Banks, a cousin of Daisy Privott.

The Privotts met as young children playing in the fields around Edenton, N.C. After they started school, their budding friendship turned into a romance.

``I used to see him playing baseball and he looked real good in his uniform,'' Daisy Privott recalled with a laugh. ``But I didn't want him to see my legs. You know it was real strict when I came along. Boys courting had to leave the house at 9 o'clock. No later.''

As teenagers, the Privotts dated, but never seriously considered marriage until they witnessed the killing of a male friend.

``I never thought I'd get married,'' Henry Privott said. ``After I had my friend killed, that turned me around. I decided to stop my running around.''

Eager to ``start the living,'' the Privotts skipped a big wedding and ran off to get married by a justice of the peace in Suffolk. A few months later, they moved to Norfolk, where Henry Privott got work on the waterfront.

The couple never had children but found an extended family in their church. Daisy Privott still serves as ``church mother'' for Refuge Church of God in Christ.

Looking back on the last seven decades, the Privotts contend they would not change a thing about their lives.

``You do the thing that is right,'' Henry Privott said. ``I stayed in the same place and I stayed with one person, too. I reckon I did the right thing.

``She still looks good to me.'' by CNB