A Nebraska couple married for 60 years celebrated their anniversary with a spectacular marriage photo shoot in their original wedding outfits.
Marvin and Lucille Stone were a vision as they held hands, danced and posed together in an open Nebraska field as photographer Katy Autry snapped the sweet moment.
Marvin, 88, wore his black tuxedo with a matching bow tie, and 81-year-old Lucille wore a gorgeous lace gown that she sewed together by hand.
Sixty years after their wedding day, Lucille Stone says husband Marvin still looks pretty darn good in his suit.
Marvin thought his bride looked lovely, too, in the gown she made herself.
“A few changes,” Marvin said, “but beautiful.”
‘The thing that took the longest was making 52 buttons that are on the sleeves and down the back,’ said Lucille.
The couple tied the knot in 1960 at a small Lutheran Church in Sterling, Nebraska.
Marvin was nearly 29-years-old at the time, while Lucille was 22-years-old.
‘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,’ Lucille added. ‘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.’
It also helps that Marvin and Lucille grew up similarly as children of the Great Depression.
‘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.’
According to Marvin, the pair was on the same page in nearly every aspect.
‘We both had farm backgrounds. We both were free enterprise people and we had similar goals in life and we were both in teaching,’ he said.
‘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.’
Daughter Christina Nelms said there have been ups and downs in her parents’ 60 years of marriage, which has resulted in three children, six grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.
Although loving, they are not a mousy couple.
“They are both strong-willed,” she said. “I will just say they are not the type to beat around the bush when they have opinions or feelings. They are equally as passionate when they are being sweet to each other and supporting each other.”
They met in David City, where they were both teaching. It caused quite a stir among their students when Marvin asked Lucille to a high school football game.
They both continued to teach on and off as Marvin earned his Ph.D. in geography.
Babies started arriving, and they eventually landed in Kearney, where Marvin taught for 32 years at the University of Nebraska at Kearney.
Lucille taught home economics there and at Kearney High School before retiring in 1994 to spend more time with the family.
Lucille explained that ‘from day one we have assumed marriage is forever.’
‘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 secret to their marriage, the Stone family said, was letting go of worry, rolling with the punches and communicating.
‘Use the resources that you have and don’t expect to have everything that you might want’, Lucille said.
‘Focus on the needs along the way and keep the faith keep a positive attitude and do your best,’ she added.