THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, November 11, 1994 TAG: 9411100218
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 01B EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: Pam Starr
LENGTH: Long : 110 lines
THEY LIVED THROUGH the Depression and the dust storms of the 1930s but Dale and Juanita King's biggest achievement is staying married for 70 years.
Yes, that's 70, as in seven decades. Three score and 10. The average life expectancy for an American male.
In a country where one out of every two marriages ends in divorce, the Kings' marital longevity should be entered into the Guiness Book of World Records. Not only have the Kings remained loving spouses for 70 years, they genuinely like each other and are able to tease without turning nasty.
``Can you imagine, wasting all these years on the same old man?'' Juanita playfully asked a visitor to their Thalia Shores home.
Her husband laughed outright at her question.
``The hardest part is the first 50 years,'' he countered. ``I never struck her in my life. I've been too scared of her!''
``You know it, boy,'' Juanita countered. ``One hit and you would've been on the floor!''
They burst into laughter. Daughter-in-law Ruth Anne King, who's married to their son Gary, said the Kings are like that all the time.
``They have a lot of fun, but they respect each other,'' she said.
That respect began on a blind date in Amarillo, Texas, on Easter in 1924. Juanita was a lass of 14 and Dale a young man of 20. Something clicked that day, they said. Eight months later they married, on Nov. 15, with her parents' blessing.
``Getting married at 14 wasn't unusual back then,'' said Juanita, 84. ``Everyone married younger.''
She gave birth to her first child at 16. Three more children arrived by the time the couple decided to escape the Texas dust storms which plagued part of the Great Plains region during the 1930s.
``The dust was blowing so hard you couldn't see the hand in front of your face,'' recalled Dale, 90.
Dale began working for Dr Pepper in Roanoke in 1936, installing bottling machinery at its plants and transferred to Fredericksburg in 1938, where he worked until his retirement. The couple lived in Miami before moving to the Beach in 1970 to be closer to children Gary, Foy and Jacquelyn King. Another son, Larry Don King, lives in Florida.
Throughout their retirement years the Kings have traveled across America and overseas. They keep busy in clubs at the Unity Church of Tidewater and by reading every kind of book available. Juanita has been crocheting afghans for Christmas gifts. With eight grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren, she'll be using massive amounts of yarn.
And on Saturday, Nov. 19, the extended King family and friends will help the couple celebrate 70 years of wedded bliss with a party at Emmanuel Lutheran Church. Juanita thinks that the reason they've been married longer than most folks is because of ``consideration and communication.'' A positive attitude doesn't hurt, either.
``We never really fought,'' she said. ``We'll probably make it to 80 years, but that doesn't worry me. Whatever will be, will be.''
Dale said that when he married Juanita, he never thought about how long their marriage would last. He only knew that they would be together until death parted them.
``It seems like if you're attracted to someone, it grows on you,'' he said. ``The main thing in life is to be happy and we've been a happy family.''
IF GET THE MORNING PAPER AND SEE THIS IN TIME, why not watch the Veterans Day parade at the Oceanfront? The 2nd District of the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States (VFW) plan to participate in the parade with about 50 members, according to Frank ``Nick'' Nickerson, commander of Post 392 in Virginia Beach.
Nickerson hoped that a lot of people would turn out for the parade to show their support of veterans. Veterans Day celebrates the armistice that ended World War I on Nov. 11, 1918. About 300,000 veterans reside in the greater Hampton Roads area, including Smithfield, Franklin and the Peninsula.
``I don't think many people know that we wouldn't have a country if not for the veterans of the foreign wars,'' said Nickerson, 67, who served in Navy intelligence during World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War. ``We'd all be speaking German or Japanese now.''
After the parade the veterans planned to lay a wreath at the Veterans Memorial on 19th Street, across from Pavilion. This weekend the VFW will also hold a poppy sale at the base commissaries at Oceana and Fort Story, WalMart on Lynnhaven Parkway and at BJ's Wholesale Club on Virginia Beach Boulevard. The flowers can be bought for whatever donation you wish to give.
``The sale of the poppies helps support the veterans in the Veterans Hospital in Hampton,'' said Nickerson. ``Our post visits the hospital every month to entertain, to play Bingo and give them clothes.''
The parade is scheduled to start at 9:30 a.m. at 16th Street and Atlantic.
LETITIA BALDRIGE, THAT GRAND DAME OF MANNERS AND ETIQUETTE, makes a lot of sense. She wrote about a touchy subject in last month's NEW CHOICES for Retirement Living magazines - death etiquette. Traditions and rituals about death comfort us, she said in the article, and tell us what to do. Baldrige gave some suggestions on what to do for a person who just lost a loved one.
``When someone you know suffers a great personal loss, remember that everyone makes a big fuss over the survivor during the burial period and then afterward allows a dull silence to descend in that person's life,'' she wrote. ``The bereaved tends to feel isolated and abandoned. That's when an invitation to join you for a family meal is most appreciated . . . take her along to movie. Get the survivor out of the house, and you will probably help avert a depression.''
Baldrige is the author of ``Letitia Baldrige's New Guide to Executive Manners.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo by PETER D. SUNDBERG
Dale and Juanita King met on a blind date in Amarillo, Texas, on
Easter in 1924. Juanita was a fresh-faced lass of 14 and Dale a
strapping young man of 20. Something clicked that day, they said.
Eight months later they married, on Nov. 15, with her parents'
blessing.
by CNB