Trust, commitment keys to 51 years of marriage
Karen and James Coffey celebrated 51 years of marriage on June 18, 2017.
“When my first wife passed away, I was left trying to raise two young children. So when the two of us got married, she was really marrying three people.”
“He said to me, ‘You know, these kids need a mother.’ The thing is, I was only 18 at the time, and there was a 15-year difference in our ages. Those first few years of marriage were very difficult for me. I had two children, I was in college and I was a pastor’s wife. Our son was the oldest, and he was in first grade the first year we were married. He told his teacher that his mother was only 12 years old when he was born. It was funny, but it was true.”
“The thing that has made our marriage work is trust. I’ve never doubted her and she’s never doubted me in anything.”
“And commitment. We erased the word divorce from our vocabulary. There were never grounds for divorce. Any problem can be worked out. We’ve always approached it that way.”
— Karen (69) and James Coffey (84)
Related:
