ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, August 15, 1996 TAG: 9608160004
SECTION: NEIGHBORS PAGE: N-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MIKE HUDSON STAFF WRITER
Byron Pultz was still playing golf at the Roanoke Country Club when he was 98 years old.
"We had to make him take a golf cart when he was 90," his daughter, Barbara Young, recalls. "He was still carrying his clubs."
Now, less than two weeks from his 100th birthday, Byron Pultz has given up golf. But he hasn't slowed down much. He reeled in 32 fish off the pier at Nags Head, N.C., when he and Arline Pultz celebrated their 72nd wedding anniversary there earlier this summer.
He still has his driver's license, but it's Arline - who'll turn 96 the end of this month - who does the driving.
"Only when I have to," she says. "I drive to the beauty parlor. I go to Harris Teeter and Kroger."
"We don't drive at night or on the interstate," Byron adds.
This Roanoke couple's story is a tale of longevity and love.
Byron Pultz was born on a farm outside Lexington on Aug. 26, 1896. Arline Cutshall was born Aug. 31, 1900, near Charlottesville. She moved to Roanoke when she was 10.
Byron came to Roanoke in 1919 to take a job as a bookkeeper at National Exchange Bank, the downtown institution that would become part of Dominion Bank and, eventually, First Union Bank.
They met in the spring of 1922. How did it happen?
"That's too much to tell," Byron Pultz says with a chuckle. He looks to his wife: "You better tell it."
"I had a date with another man," she begins.
"She had a date with another man that she was engaged to at the time," he continues. He had a date with one of her friends and came to meet them at Arline's house. He was sitting on the sofa. He looked up and saw Arline coming down the stairs. "I just thought to myself: 'That's the girl for me.'"
Later, he called her for a date. Arline, a pretty schoolteacher with many suitors, wasn't so sure about him at first. He wore nose glasses and silk shirts. But he won her over with his charm and steadfastness.
They were married June 24, 1924. They lived with her mother for 10 years, until they saved enough money to buy a home in South Roanoke. They've been there ever since - 62 years in the same house.
Their first child, Barbara Young of Salem, was born in 1935. Their second, Anne Roesch of Norfolk, came in 1939.
Arline Pultz attributes their longevity to several things: "Exercise. Good food. No smoking, no drinking and living the Christian life."
A couple of years ago, Byron Pultz came home from playing golf and noticed a sign that the city would collect leaves the next day. He went into the garage to grab a rake, lost his balance and fell, breaking his hip. Now he uses a walker or a cane, mostly just for balance.
They have five granddaughters, two great-granddaughters and a great-grandson.
Byron Pultz, who retired in 1961, has been a stockholder in the former National Exchange Bank for 77 years.
"We don't even have any plastic - credit cards," Arline Pultz says. "We believe in paying as you go."
Byron Pultz says their marriage has lasted because "we always went to the Lord for counseling. We always tried to work things out. If anything came up, we more or less looked at each one's standpoint and compromised."
"Did you let me be boss?" Arline interrupts, giving her trademark laugh.
Arline still cooks homemade rolls and throws dinner parties. She pays the bills and takes care of the house.
"I can walk - just a little bit slow," she says as she takes a visitor to her front door.
"Oh, you can dance," her daughter Barbara says with a laugh. "They danced at all their grandchildren's weddings."
LENGTH: Medium: 71 linesby CNB