THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, April 30, 1995 TAG: 9504300054
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PAM STARR, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium: 77 lines
Maybe it was the Catholic education. A strong sense of family values. Or because people just didn't get divorced back then.
Whatever the reason, the outcome remained the same. Marital longevity. Thirty-nine graduates of the old St. Mary's Academy in Norfolk, the one that closed in 1944, have stayed in their marriages 50 years or longer - four of them for 60 years. That's nearly 2,000 combined years of looking at the same person every day.
On Saturday, as more than 85 graduates and their spouses attended the fourth annual St. Mary's Academy reunion at the Chesopeian Colony home of Malcolm and Shirley Todd, marriage was the theme of the day.. Even in the food line, at the end of which stood a three-tiered wedding cake on a card table, a silver cake server by its side.
Those honored weren't surprised to find out how many of them celebrated more than 50 years of togetherness. Gold stars on their name tags, printed with the number of years married, gave their status away.
``I guess it's all just true love,'' said Doris Bozard, married 51 years to Louis. Both of them graduated from St. Mary's Academy in 1941 and live in Richmond. ``You stick by your vows. It's so hard for me to understand why people can't stay together these days.''
Louis Bozard, who looks exactly like the actor (Ray Bolger) who played the scarecrow in The Wizard of Oz, believes that the simpler life made all the difference.
``I think a Catholic education helped,'' he said. ``But we always worked together - we've been real blessed.''
Photo albums, scrapbooks and newspaper clippings from school days and former reunions were laid out on the table next to the gazebo. Directly above it sat 39 bride-and-groom figurines, the kind that go on top of wedding cakes. But the hair on these couples had been painted gray by Shirley Todd. The 1939 graduate gave each couple a figurine as a souvenir.
``I found these in the five-and-dime store,'' said Todd, laughing. ``As I was painting I kept seeing different people. It was funny.''
Todd, who has been married 50 years, thinks that couples had it easier in those days.
``I think we didn't have the temptations they have today,'' she said.
The longest-married couple at the reunion was Harry and Helen Nash of Portsmouth. Both 87, they've been together 62 years and still hold hands every chance they get. Harry, a 1925 graduate, is a retired Associated Press reporter.
``It's just a give and take thing,'' said Nash, smiling at his wife. ``Everything in life is a compromise. We've been married so long because of the grace of God and my wonderful wife.''
Ivanhoe Piedmont came stag to the reunion since wife Philomena can't walk. They've been married 57 years and Piedmont said it ``looks like it might last.'' He thinks many of the graduates stayed married so long because back then, people took their vows more seriously.
``Divorce was never a part of our family at all,'' said Piedmont, who lives in Sentara Village in Chesapeake. ``That's not a Catholic rule - that's a rule for everybody. But it looks like that's gone to the dogs.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
BILL TIERNAN/Staff
Eddie Garcia, left, and brother Dominick are reunited with classmate
Shirley Todd. All three are graduates of old St. Mary's Academy in
Norfolk , which closed in 1944.
Photo
BILL TIERNAN/Staff
A newspaper article, accompanied by a picture of members from the
1921 girl's class at St. Mary's Academy's, sparked conversation at
the school's fourth reunion Saturday.
by CNB