51 Years at the beach

BY JULIEANNE COX • STAFF WRITER

On March 23, 2017 Larry and Mary Brown drove from their home in Albany, KY to join Professor Minton’s 8 am Gender Communication class to be interviewed about a subject of great importance: marriage.

Larry and Mary Brown are the grandparents of Lindsey Wilson College junior Amber Brown, and have been married for 51 years and counting.

Larry and Mary—seated at the front of the classroom—were grinning from ear to ear and dressed in their Sunday best. When asked about his tie, Larry revealed the bright yellow, cartoon-faced, square-bottomed nature of it—it was a SpongeBob tie.

“I’m going wear my SpongeBob tie and it’s going to embarrass Amber” Larry added after revealing the comedic accessory, but granddaughter Amber simply smiled and shook her head.

The clock hit 8:00am.

Minton led the interview, “Are you two best friends? And if so, what makes you best friends?”

Both plainly said yes. Then, Larry hesitantly added, “I can’t have everything Larry’s way, and she cant have everything Mary’s way.”

“I find in life that when I have a problem and I disagree with Mary, I have to tell her.” This is what makes them best friends.

Then came the question that we all had been waiting for, “Can you remember the first time you saw each other?’

Laughs were shared, and soon the class was taken into the opening scene of a Hallmark movie.

Larry and Mary met in 1964 when a group of six friends got together to go on a drive.

Larry described her long black hair at the time and the car she drove. Mary added that she was mostly first attracted to his personality.

“She was actually with my brother,” said Larry.

The class erupted with laughter.

“We were just playing around though!” Mary interjected.

And from that night on, Larry was “bit by the love bug.”

Minton then asked, “How did you know you needed to get married?”

Larry responded matter of fact, ”Well, we were in love.”

Larry then spoke of a time when Mary worked in a shirt factory. At first he would only go and visit her a few times a week, but then, he soon found himself going to see her at work every day.

Larry couldn’t stay away from the woman he loved.

Larry and Mary weren’t your stereotypical couple starting out in life.

“When we first got married she was the bread winner and I was in school.” Larry felt bad about his wife carrying the “big load” but he did what he could to support them.

“I sold my prized possessions,” and all of his guns to afford a marriage certificate, $47 for rent at their first apartment, and furniture."

“I wish I could have done better,” said Larry. “When we got married it wasn’t like it is today. You got your blood work done in Kentucky, went over the state line to Tennessee, and for an offering they would marry you.

And on August 27, 1966 they did just that

However marriage is not without its hardships, so when Minton asked what the hardest period of time was from their first year of marriage till now—51 years later—they had answers ready.

For Larry, the hardest time in their marriage was in 1970 when he tried to start his own trucking business and failed. At this point in time they had two boys to take care of. Larry recalled not even being able to put milk in the fridge.

“She stuck with me through that time though” said Larry, “she didn’t down me.”

For Mary, the hardest time in their marriage was when one of their sons was deployed to Desert Storm. She didn’t say much on the subject, but the tears in her eyes spoke more than enough for the pain that she went through during that time.

“So you see, there’s hard times, but even in the hard times we can grow closer together,” said Larry. “Hard times are not always a bad thing; they are growing experiences.”

However, despite all the trials of a 51-year marriage, Larry still expresses his love for Mary every single day.

Every morning when Mary gets her coffee from Larry, she also gets a handwritten reminder of her husband’s love on a napkin.

When Larry first started this morning ritual the note simply said “I <3 You” with an arrow through the heart, but then as they started adding grandkids to their family, he started adding a stick figure to the note for each one.

For these two, love is in the little things—whether it’s a coffee cup and a note that says “I love you” or a few hours spent at the “Beach” in their backyard relaxing in their lawn chairs under a tree; enjoying the view of the rolling hills before them.