To Honor and Cherish {A 50th Anniversary Celebration}

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Jerry was a pilot for Bell Helicopter in Ft. Worth, Tx. Carol was a Stewardess for Braniff Airlines in Dallas, Texas. He was from the big city of Philadelphia, PA., and she was from the farm town of Aberdeen, SD. Their paths had never crossed. Yet.

Love is… a blind date.

Their roommates, however, had other plans for my parents, and set them up on a blind date. So, on Halloween night of 1965 their love story began. Their night started out going bowling with their friends. Thinking it over, they ditched their friends and went out to eat at a little hole-in-the-wall Italian restaurant by themselves.

It went well. So well, in fact, the rest is history. My dad proposed less than two months later on Christmas morning. He put mom’s ring in the toe of her stocking.  (Obviously, she said yes or I wouldn’t be writing this.)  They were married November 5th, 1966.  So, as you are reading this, today is their 50th wedding anniversary.

Mr. and Mrs. MacNamara

Marriage is… hard work.

My parents have never pretended that marriage was easy. They showed my siblings and I that marriage is work — and full of compromises. We, of course, never appreciated this until we were married ourselves.  

As parents today, we learned great lessons from dad and mom as we were growing up. From mom, we learned to be to be nurturing, to always have a listening ear, and to be on our knees daily for our spouse and children. From dad, we learned great work ethic, to be respectful of others always, and to be on our knees daily for our spouse and children.

I’d say my older siblings would agree with me that we wouldn’t be the parents we are today without the values that our parents have instilled in us. My younger brother will agree too one day when he experiences the joy of being a parent.  

50 years and going strong.

So, how are dad and mom celebrating 5o years of marriage?  They recently returned from a three-week trip to Ireland. My dad is of Irish decent, so what a treat it was for them to visit his ancestral land, to see where the MacNamara Clan came from. And what an experience they had! It was such a great time, I think they may be considering moving over there!  LOL.

We will come together as a family over Thanksgiving to celebrate and honor Dad and Mom in Dallas, TX; the place where they met, fell in love, and married 50 years ago.    

Jerry and Carol have four children, two sons-in-law, two daughters-in-laws, and six grandchildren:  

Raul and Regina Marie Hernandez
Mary Elizabeth and Michael Hattabaugh
Patrick and Tina MacNamara
Jeremiah and Ashely MacNamara
Creed MacNamara, Molly Hattabaugh, Madeline MacNamara, Matthew Hattabaugh, Meghan Hattabaugh, and Xavier Hernandez

Do you have relatives celebrating a 50th Anniversary this year?

What have you learned from their example of marriage?

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