Joanne Dawson Norton must be busy Googling. She just passed on to me this excerpt from a feature article in a 2001 issue of Cooperative Living. The article was about couples who fell in love at first sight and went on to have long and happy marriages. Cooperative Living is published by the Virginia, Maryland & Delaware Association of Electric Cooperatives.

Fred & Betty Chemi of Culpeper, Virginia

In the spring of 1966, I gave an automotive timing light that I no longer had use for, to a friend at work. He wanted to reciprocate, but I told him he shouldn’t feel obligated. At the end of June, he insisted that I drop over one evening for dinner. I successfully evaded the invitation as I had heard him tell a fellow employee that his sister-in-law, Betty, was visiting from California. She had come to visit for two weeks as a graduation present from her father. At 26 years of age and still single, I knew I would have no interest in a recent high school graduate. As luck (or, more correctly, fate) would have it, there was a major airline strike at the end of June and she was unable to return to California.

My friend finally wore me down in August and I agreed to come over for a cookout one evening after work. Call it chemistry, call it fate, or whatever, but the two of us immediately saw something in each other that has carried us through 34 happy years of marriage.

Two weeks after that cookout, I proposed and we were married on February 4, 1967. Today, Betty and I are the proud parents of three children — Ann Marie, Louis and Phillip — and we reside in Culpeper.

The same timing light, mounted on a plaque, was given to us as a 32nd anniversary present by my brother-in-law and sister-in-law. Like our marriage, the timing light is still in fine working order.

We have three rules for a happy marriage and they have worked well for us:

Don’t ever go to sleep on an argument.

Whoever said marriage is a 50-50 arrangement was never married. If it were 50-50, then nothing would ever happen. Think of it as 90-10 and always expect to only get the 10. That way, you will never be disappointed.
Remember that your spouse is your best friend. There is nothing you hide from each other.

Tell your spouse you love her (or him) at least four times each day and mean it.

Remember, our creator only puts us here for a short time, so make every moment count together.

Hey, I said there were three rules, but she convinced me there were a lot more.
— Fred Chemi