Local Couple Celebrates 70 Years Together

Seventy-year-old Frederick Walters from Wyandotte said in terms of getting married it's “got to be a 50-50 proposition or it ain’t going to work.”  

Walters told Detroit’s Local 4 News Wednesday that he and his wife, Betty Lou Walters, had plans to celebrate their 70th anniversary on Christmas Day.

But the couple wanted to get a head start on things and decided to renew their vows Wednesday at Applewood Nursing Center in Woodhaven.

The couple’s daughter, Sharon, told The Detroit News that she brings her dad to the nursing home every day to visit his high school sweetheart.

The couple moved to Wyandotte with their daughter in the 1950’s. The two were married in 1943, but because of the war had to skip out on the honeymoon, the paper said. 

Walters, a paratrooper, was on leave from the Army in World War II.

When asked what it was about his wife that he loved so much, Walters replied: “It’s just there that’s all. From the first day I met her and took her home. I took her home when she was 13 years-old and I’ve been taking her home ever since.”

"I'm just glad she's here," he told Local 4. "She's 87 and I'm 90." 

Decorations and entertainment were provided by the nursing center.

“We were thrilled to be a part of this milestone in this couple’s life,” Jolynn Gilliam, activities director at Applewood Nursing Center, said.

Local businesses also chipped in and donated a number of things for the ceremony.

Trenton’s Touch of Glass Florist donated flowers for the bride and groom, as well as an aisle runner. Margie’s Bridal Shop, also in Trenton, provided a veil and wedding cake topper. Great Lakes Caring Hospice donated the cake.