The Record Newspapers - Hometown News For Orange County, Texas

On New Year's Eve, December 31, 2021, Phyl and I will celebrate our 67th wedding anniversary. Over the Thanksgiving Holidays we had all three of our children, five grandchildren and eight of our nine great-grandchildren with us. Our oldest great-grandson Nate, in the Air Force, is stationed in South Dakota. It was such a joy to be around the small ones. There are four of them that are five years old and younger. Each one of them has their own personality.

When our grandchildren were coming up we were fortunate that they were raised around us. Some of the best times I've had was helping raise them. I used to say that I just wanted to stick around long enough to see what they would become. I'm proud to say they are all doing well. As far as the great-grandchildren, I can't hang around long enough to see what they become but I'm sure they will be fine. They are scattered around the country.

What's amazing out of the nine there is not a Dunn in the bunch. There will be no Dunn's going forward. There are only six of us with the Dunn name, Mark, Allen, Karen, Amber, Jenna and I. Our girl had boys and our boy had girls.

Here's how it started all those years ago. Our wedding day, December 31, 1954, was a nice morning and we had agreed to meet down the street from Phyl's house at a certain time. We picked up a friend, Margaret Hunt, who had agreed to be a witness or bridesmaid. She would accompany us to Kountze where a lady J.P. would marry us. Clarence McNelly, the clerk, would issue the license. We needed a blood test to get a license so several days before, not knowing where to go, I pulled into Hamilton's Clinic, in Beaumont. The doctor and employees were surprised at our request. No one getting married had ever chosen their place for a blood test because it was a hemorrhoid clinic. How in the world could this marriage ever fail with this great start. We married and returned to Port Arthur.

Phyl attended Bishop Byrne Catholic School and had it been discovered that she was married, she wouldn't have been able to graduate in May. The next few months we lived apart with only Margaret knowing about the marriage. Phyl finished school and 10 months to the day, On October 31, our first child Mark was born. Two others followed, Allen two years after Mark and finally four years later, Karen, the girl Phyl was waiting for. Five grandchildren and nine great-grand kids have followed.

The most surprising is how quickly those 67 years have traveled. The odds for any couple making so many years are not very good, not only because of divorce but also sickness and death figures in. If it ends tomorrow, it's been a great ride.

Over the years we have lost to death hundreds of friends, each very special. When we married, all those years ago, we both had plenty of relatives, today they are nearly all gone.

Dunn Great-grand Children Front Row: Luke, Chase, Liam, Willow, Juliana Back Row: Rowan, Delilah, Leland Not a Dunn in the bunch, Thanksgiving Dunn Reunion

As hard as it is to believe, it's been 67 years. It's also is unbelievable that we squeezed so much into one lifetime. That crazy start had all the elements for failure. It was really beating the odds.

These times will pass but until then, Phyl and I will enjoy the time we have together and take one day at a time. We are really blessed and despite some health problems we both have our mental facilities in tack. We're thankful the Lord allows us to continue working. I write the words, she types them, and like our long marriage, one day at a time, we put a paper out and look forward to the next one. It keeps our minds sharp and despite being well into our eighties, it gives us a sense of accomplishment. We would both be miserable sitting around being useless.

We will just move on to the next chapter and hopefully another year will roll around. I'm not sure what the record is for being married but it's something to shoot for. Family, friends and having each other makes for a good life.