By Brittany Hanson/Garden Grove Journal
Some everlasting love in Garden Grove has been going strong for 178 years. On Friday, four couples from Emeritus Senior Living in Garden Grove renewed their wedding vows amounting to an accumulated 178 years of marriage.
At 10 a.m. Erwin, 91, and Beatrice, 83, Sinclair, Richard, 97, and Margaret, 92, Barton, and Claude, 79, and Ada, 81, Betebenner walked or wheeled down the aisle in the Emeritus of Garden Manor courtyard and through a wedding arch decorated with flowers.
Pastor Mark Bove of Calvary Chapel in Anaheim said that these couples were a testament to stability and love. Bove said that they were models of love and of devotion.
Each couple has a different story, for some it was love at first sight across a dance floor or others with chains of wartime letters to keep hearts warm while miles apart.
Each couple was given its vows separately. When it was Irwin and Beatrice Sinclair’s turn, Beatrice told Bove that Irwin could not hear him. Instead of repeating the full vows, Irwin simply told his wife, “I love you.”
Family and friends surrounded the couples, taking pictures. When the group was asked to all kiss at once, Richard Barton shouted out an exuberant, “All right!”
They’re all a little older than they were when they first met. Their hair is now grey or not there at all. Maybe they’ve fought over the years, changed houses, had children and careers.
But after years and years of matrimony, they’re still holding on to that same promise.
