As Valentine's Day approaches, three couples from the Finger Lakes area reflect on love that has lasted longer than 50 years each.
David Wilcox / The Citizen
George and Agnes King have been married for 57 years. The Kings met in 1946 at Murray's restaurant, on the corner of South Street in the old Richardson Square. Above, the pair is seen
as they appeared in their youth.
On July 3, 1946, George King met Agnes at Murray's restaurant, on the corner of South Street in the old Richardson Square. Agnes, who worked at the restaurant as a cashier, had caught the eye of George over the course of several lunches away from his nearby office at the old Auburn Savings Bank.
“I thought she was a pretty good-looking girl, and I wanted to strike up the acquaintance,” George said.
George attempted to ask Agnes out with the help of the restaurant's co-owner, Ed Murray, who was dating Agnes' sister Betty at the time. But George decided to approach Agnes himself after growing frustrated when Murray “dragged his feet” as a matchmaker.
“There's a long weekend coming up, would you like to go on a date?” George asked his future wife.
Agnes did not hesitate to say yes.
“There was something about his voice that attracted me,” Agnes said.
The two set out for the Syracuse Hotel the next day, where they had a martini and a turkey sandwich before dancing for much of the day. Three years later, George and Agnes wedded. Their family has since grown to five children (one, Stephen, is deceased) and four grandchildren. They will celebrate their 58th anniversary Nov. 19.
At about the same time in Skaneateles, Bill Pavlus was literally courting the affections of his future wife for almost 57 years, Beatrice. She first captured his attention as a cheerleader for the Skaneateles High School basketball team.
“I don't know what she saw in me, but I saw a pretty cheerleader,” Bill said.
He had recently returned to Skaneateles from a fortunately timed stint of service in the United States Army. World War II ended while he was en route to Japan, and his 18 months of service were over long before the outbreak of the Korean War.
Bill asked Beatrice out at the Comet Theater in Skaneateles, where she worked as a cashier. After two years of dating, they married in July 1950. They have since had two daughters, who have given them four grandchildren and one great-granddaughter.
In Victory, Ellis and Eleanor Hall are set to celebrate their 64th wedding anniversary on April 24. They originally met in his one-room schoolhouse to which she went one day to take her Regents exam. They would not begin dating until several years later. She was a teller at Cato National Bank (now the Cato Community Bank) who Ellis often saw when he went in the bank for business transactions.
“I asked if she would like to grab a bite to eat,” he said.
The Halls' first dates took them to a movie in Baldwinsville and a square dance at a schoolhouse on Upton Road. It took Ellis three proposals to convince Eleanor that he wasn't just a whimsical farm boy with a fleeting thought of matrimony on the mind.
“He got down on his knee, and I finally knew he was serious,” Eleanor said.
The Halls have since welcomed five children, 12 grandchildren and six great-grandchildren into their family.
“It's quite a lot when we get together, Eleanor said.
Although the Kings, Pavluses and Halls are geographically far apart, they are bound by their beliefs in the necessities of a healthy, long-lasting marriage.
“The main thing of our marriage was our family background; our families got along well with good moral values and civic virtues,” George said.
The Halls credit their involvement with their local Methodist church for cultivating the ideals that helped strengthen their marriage as well as providing them with a source of mutual interest. Both they and the Kings believe that in the absence of a moral center such as the church, the commitment of marriage is often left to crumble.
“Today the young couples think they can just try marriage, and if they don't like the person they can just divorce them,” Eleanor said.
Bill Pavlus believes managing conflict can be another major factor in either making or breaking the marriages of young couples.
“When you start raising voices and your tempers flare, you accomplish nothing,” he said. “You have to back off and let things calm down.”
The Kings echo Pavlus' sentiment that cooperation, not competition, is the base of a healthy marriage. They stress the importance of working together for the mutual welfare of both husband and wife. George finds fault in the husbands who are “taking trips to Europe without their wives or going on elk hunting trips in Montana by themselves.”
Although he is quick to offer advice about maintaining an amiable marriage, George acknowledges that today's newlyweds do not face the same adversity with which he and Agnes once struggled.
“And today both man and wife are working,” he said, “but we didn't face that, we were very lucky.”
As much as young married couples may endeavor to make their relationships work, there is no denying that luck can also play a role in their success. This Valentine's Day, the Kings will join the Pavluses and Halls in remembering what it's like to be endlessly lucky in love.
Staff writer David Wilcox can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 245 or david.wilcox@lee.net
“I thought she was a pretty good-looking girl, and I wanted to strike up the acquaintance,” George said.
George attempted to ask Agnes out with the help of the restaurant's co-owner, Ed Murray, who was dating Agnes' sister Betty at the time. But George decided to approach Agnes himself after growing frustrated when Murray “dragged his feet” as a matchmaker.
“There's a long weekend coming up, would you like to go on a date?” George asked his future wife.
Agnes did not hesitate to say yes.
“There was something about his voice that attracted me,” Agnes said.
The two set out for the Syracuse Hotel the next day, where they had a martini and a turkey sandwich before dancing for much of the day. Three years later, George and Agnes wedded. Their family has since grown to five children (one, Stephen, is deceased) and four grandchildren. They will celebrate their 58th anniversary Nov. 19.
At about the same time in Skaneateles, Bill Pavlus was literally courting the affections of his future wife for almost 57 years, Beatrice. She first captured his attention as a cheerleader for the Skaneateles High School basketball team.
“I don't know what she saw in me, but I saw a pretty cheerleader,” Bill said.
He had recently returned to Skaneateles from a fortunately timed stint of service in the United States Army. World War II ended while he was en route to Japan, and his 18 months of service were over long before the outbreak of the Korean War.
Bill asked Beatrice out at the Comet Theater in Skaneateles, where she worked as a cashier. After two years of dating, they married in July 1950. They have since had two daughters, who have given them four grandchildren and one great-granddaughter.
In Victory, Ellis and Eleanor Hall are set to celebrate their 64th wedding anniversary on April 24. They originally met in his one-room schoolhouse to which she went one day to take her Regents exam. They would not begin dating until several years later. She was a teller at Cato National Bank (now the Cato Community Bank) who Ellis often saw when he went in the bank for business transactions.
“I asked if she would like to grab a bite to eat,” he said.
The Halls' first dates took them to a movie in Baldwinsville and a square dance at a schoolhouse on Upton Road. It took Ellis three proposals to convince Eleanor that he wasn't just a whimsical farm boy with a fleeting thought of matrimony on the mind.
“He got down on his knee, and I finally knew he was serious,” Eleanor said.
The Halls have since welcomed five children, 12 grandchildren and six great-grandchildren into their family.
“It's quite a lot when we get together, Eleanor said.
Although the Kings, Pavluses and Halls are geographically far apart, they are bound by their beliefs in the necessities of a healthy, long-lasting marriage.
“The main thing of our marriage was our family background; our families got along well with good moral values and civic virtues,” George said.
The Halls credit their involvement with their local Methodist church for cultivating the ideals that helped strengthen their marriage as well as providing them with a source of mutual interest. Both they and the Kings believe that in the absence of a moral center such as the church, the commitment of marriage is often left to crumble.
“Today the young couples think they can just try marriage, and if they don't like the person they can just divorce them,” Eleanor said.
Bill Pavlus believes managing conflict can be another major factor in either making or breaking the marriages of young couples.
“When you start raising voices and your tempers flare, you accomplish nothing,” he said. “You have to back off and let things calm down.”
The Kings echo Pavlus' sentiment that cooperation, not competition, is the base of a healthy marriage. They stress the importance of working together for the mutual welfare of both husband and wife. George finds fault in the husbands who are “taking trips to Europe without their wives or going on elk hunting trips in Montana by themselves.”
Although he is quick to offer advice about maintaining an amiable marriage, George acknowledges that today's newlyweds do not face the same adversity with which he and Agnes once struggled.
“And today both man and wife are working,” he said, “but we didn't face that, we were very lucky.”
As much as young married couples may endeavor to make their relationships work, there is no denying that luck can also play a role in their success. This Valentine's Day, the Kings will join the Pavluses and Halls in remembering what it's like to be endlessly lucky in love.
Staff writer David Wilcox can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 245 or david.wilcox@lee.net
The Citizens' Say
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Jocco wrote on Feb 11, 2007 4:51 PM: