Frank and Anne Lovelace marked 79 years of marriage, a milestone that they describe as a “whirlwind’ of being together.
They both were 18 years old when they met. They are 97 years old now.
Their first date was back in the early 1940s at a park with an amusement center. Frank had been a gunner’s mate the past year in the Navy and was on leave during World War 2.
“Everybody my age was going into the service then, I joined the Navy,” Frank said. “We only have six weeks of book camp. They put on the ship and said, ‘You’re shipping out.’”
Anne was working at the restaurant Frank’s mother owned in Pennsylvania.
“His mother knew he wanted me, so she took us off to Maryland and got us married,” Anne said.
Frank said the two got married on a Thursday then by that Sunday, he was boarding a ship.
“We were sailing, five months before we got back,” he shared.
Anne said she lived at a YMCA until he got out of the service, then they got an apartment together.
They were married for a year and a half when their first child was born… now three daughters later, the two have six grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.
Their secret to a lasting marriage…
“Hard work,” Frank said. “That’s right,” Anne replied while laughing.
The two are thankful for every moment.
“I’m just thankful we’re healthy and we live here. We do our own work, don’t have to depend on anybody and I told her I don’t know what I’d do without her,” Frank said.
They moved back to Jacksonville after retirement to be closer to one of their daughters.