Ky. Couple World's Longest-Married//Marriage on a Lousy Day- 8/02

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subject: Ky. Couple World's Longest-Married//Marriage on a Lousy Day- 8/02

from: Smart Marriages

WORLD'S LONGEST MARRIED COUPLE:

Ky. Couple World's Longest-Married

Wednesday, August 28, 2002

LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) -- A couple who said ``I do'' 83 years ago have been
officially recognized as the world's oldest living married couple.

William and Claudia Lillian Ritchie, who got married on April 12, 1919 in
Jeffersonville, Ind., received a certificate from Guinness World Records on
Tuesday. 

``I wanted to take care of her, that was the biggest part of it,'' Bill
Ritchie said. 

The Ritchies raised four children, two of whom have died. They have nine
grandchildren, 23 great-grandchildren and 18 great-great-grandchildren.

While Lil Ritchie's memory is faltering and Bill Ritchie has difficulty
hearing, both were made aware of the record, said daughter Jewell Wagoner,
75. 

Wagoner and her sister Helen Pennington, 77, said it has become difficult to
care for their parents and decided last week to place them in a nursing
home. 

Lil Ritchie, 98, moved in Thursday. Bill Ritchie, 104, had refused to go but
asked to join his wife a few days later.

``They had never been separated before in 83 years of marriage,'' Wagoner
said. 

Wagoner began trying to obtain the record recognition from Guinness after an
article about her parent's anniversary appeared in the Lexington
Herald-Leader. 

``Someone said they might even be the oldest couple,'' she said.

The Ritchies received 579 cards congratulating them on their anniversary
this year. 

Copyright © 2002 Associated Press Information Services
###############
CELEBRATING MARRIAGE ON A LOUSY DAY

(I wonder how many lousy days Ritchies had... - diane )

Celebrating Marriage on a Lousy Day
   Sometimes you just get sick of each other. So?
   by Jim Killiam

   What a cruddy day. Lauren and I are mad at each other. Neither
   of us really knows why. It might have started in bed last
   night with her offhand remark, which I took the wrong way --
   or with my selfish, passive-aggressive response this morning.
   Then there was a quick exchange of angry words in the church
   parking lot -- car doors slammed a little too hard -- and now,
   silence a few hours old that neither of us feels much like
   breaking. It's just easier to go to our separate corners of
   the house and get busy with something, avoiding anything close
   to a confrontation.

   I'm not sure either of us could tell you what this is really
   about. I think it's just a bunch of little things we've let
   simmer this week and now the pot is bubbling over. The weather
   stinks, too -- 33 degrees and sleeting, after it was 90
   degrees three days ago. So there was already sort of a dark,
   ugly mood about this day. It's a good day to be mad. Pick a
   reason.

   We're both terrible at resolving these dumb little fights
   quickly. We clam up rather than tell each other how we really
   feel. All of that marriage advice in the books on the shelf
   suddenly doesn't seem so realistic. I'll bet most of those
   couples have dumb fights sometimes, too. And I'll bet they
   don't always resolve them immediately by gazing soulfully into
   each other's eyes, speaking exactly what's on their minds,
   accepting what they hear, apologizing, embracing, and finally
   making long, passionate love in a bedroom full of throw
   pillows, flowers, and candles.

   Sorry, but today's not a candles kind of day in our house. And
   mentioning the words "throw" and "pillows" in the same
   sentence would not produce positive results.

   To read the rest of this article from Marriage Partnership, go
   to: http://ChristianityToday.com/mp/2002/003/5.38.html



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