17TH IN A SERIES ON LONG MARRIAGES

Robert “Smokey” Nevins met his future wife at California’s Sacramento State University. Smokey, born blind, needed someone to drive him to a music appreciation class, so he checked the school’s list of assistant readers for, he said, “girls with pretty names.” He decided to call Patricia.

Mark Regnerus graduated from Trinity Christian College in 1993 and gained his Ph.D. at the University of North Carolina in 2000. He is now a courageous sociology professor at the University of Texas at Austin and the author of Oxford University Press books on sex and marriage with a Biblical base and lively titles like Forbidden Fruit and Cheap Sex. 

16th in a series on long marriages

Lois Taylor said she would marry anyone but a pastor.

Growing up as a pastor’s kid, Lois saw her dad working long hours of ministry. She perceived her mother, who was always at home, as isolated and lonely. At church, people expected her mom to do particular ministries just because she was the pastor’s wife. Lois remembered her mom also believed she couldn’t have friends in the church, as that might look like favoritism.

I heard the first year of marriage is always tough. That made sense to me: You have two separate lives joining into one, and that will require some painstaking sacrifices and compromises. What’s more, both my husband, David, and I got married in our 30s. We’ve enjoyed more than 30 years of independence, and with that comes our own rigid habits and hard-to-break lifestyles. I just never expected that the one major conflict we’d have in our marriage would be over my cat. 

15th in a series on long marriages

High-school senior Ron Johanesen was visiting his best friend Leeroy’s house after a game of mud football when he first noticed Leeroy’s sister—a “beautiful blond girl.” Ron learned he and Sandra went to the same Portland, Ore., church. He soon asked her to be his date for a formal event at school.

Be in the world but not of it: A familiar concept for Christians, but easier said than done if the world is Hollywood reality TV. Just ask Florida couple Tyler and Amy Clites, champions of Fox’s new show Lego Masters.

14th in a series on long marriages

It was the summer of 1974 when 16-year-old Darrell Jordan visited the park with his cousin and noticed a teenage girl hanging upside down on the monkey bars. “She looked so cute,” Darrell recalls. “That was my wife.” Catheleen was only 13, but Darrell felt shy around her. Eventually, they talked, dated, then married in 1977, when Darrell was a college sophomore and Catheleen a high-school senior.