Petersburg couple celebrates 75 years together

A glass cabinet gleams near a big window in the Mountain View Manor Assisted Living apartment of George and Florabelle Rice. The display case is brimming with collected mementos: two small ceramic cats - prizes from a Quaker Oats container - given to Florabelle ninety years ago by her mother, souvenirs from the couple's travels, family photographs, keepsakes spanning nearly a century of memories. "I love this stuff that has a happy memory," says Florabelle, her eyes lighting up. "I get such a charge just looking at this stuff and trying to remember where it came from and how I got it." The objects are reminders of the extraordinary couple's story.

This week, Florabelle and George Rice, longtime Petersburg residents, celebrate their 75th wedding anniversary - a marital milestone almost no one reaches, referred to as the diamond anniversary.

The couple, who moved into Mountain View Manor last year, were married on March 25, 1950, one year after meeting in college. George, born in 1927, and Florabelle, born in 1929, are now 97 and 95 years old respectively.

What's the secret to a marriage lasting 75 years?

"There is no secret," Florabelle says. "It wasn't just because, oh, we loved each other so, so much or anything like that ... it was just that we trusted each other and shared everything."

"We've never had a fight in 75 years," Florabelle declares, sitting beside George in their apartment. "We have never spoken bad words to each other, the way some people do. We just love each other and trust each other."

From college sweethearts to Alaska pioneers

The couple met at Western Washington University, where Florabelle was working in the cafeteria to put herself through school. George, fresh out of the Army, had entered college on the GI Bill.

Their courtship was simple. "Once in a while, he would ask me if I wanted to go to a movie," Florabelle remembers. "We walked to the movie downtown and walked back ... the walking didn't bother me any ... it was pretty nice and he was a perfect gentleman."

Their decision to marry came after a visit to Florabelle's family in Lake Stevens, Washington. George had gone out to the barn to speak with Florabelle's father. Florabelle remembers hearing "a fight, but just verbal" revealing her father's staunch opposition to the idea of his daughter marrying before finishing college. She remembers George marching back from the barn and saying, "Come on, Florabelle, we've got to make it back to school." During the drive back, George asked her if she had thought about getting married. "... why not?" she said. "Then we'll do it," he answered; she remembers his decisiveness ... soon after they had a small wedding at the home of friends. And that was 75 years ago this week.

They graduated together from Western Washington in 1950 and both took jobs as teachers in Washington.

In 1958, the Rices embarked on an Alaskan adventure that would change the course of their lives. They packed their children into a small boat and headed north.

"That's how they came to Alaska with us, three older kids," their daughter Kathleen recalled. The family stopped in Petersburg during Fourth of July celebrations and participated in a boat race. Though they placed third out of three "cabin cruisers," something about the small fishing community captured their hearts.

By 1960, the family had made Petersburg their home. George and Florabelle both taught school, and George later started Petersburg Marine and Logging Supply.

Life on "Rice's Island"

Not too long after arriving in Petersburg, the couple purchased what some locals still call "Rice's Island" - named Sasby Island, on the map, the same property where Dr. Richard and Sharon Sprague now live. It was there that the Rices raised their family in what could be described as an idyllic but demanding Alaska childhood.

When they bought it, "no one had lived in the house on the island for quite a while," remembers Florabelle. "George was pretty handy with a hammer and nails ... he repaired it so we could live in it halfway safely. We raised the kids on the island and they loved it, Kathleen and Harvey and John and George Jr ... we were just people in a family, like you might read about in a book."

One example of life on the island: commuting to school by boat. On good days, the "school boat" would pick up the Rice children and other kids from Kupreanof. Kathleen fondly remembers Mr. Brennan's boat, the Jaunty, and how luxurious it felt to ride in "a boat that was warm."

Kathleen added that Sharon Sprague recently gifted her a piece of the whimsical wallpaper that had hung in Kathleen's childhood bedroom on the island.

A Life of Adventure

Throughout their 75 years together, the Rices have maintained a spirit of adventure that has taken them far.

"We often would sit down at the table, the kids sitting there," Florabelle recalls, "and we'd come up with some kind of an idea. The next thing you know, we're going somewhere."

George's passion for aviation shaped many of their adventures. Florabelle remembers with a smile, "I just walked into the shop one day and he said, 'Hey, Florabelle ...I think I've got something that you're going to be really happy about.' And he had purchased a Cessna Cardinal 177."

George learned to fly in Petersburg, and the couple explored Alaska by air. "We flew the North Slope," Florabelle says. Another time they ventured in the airplane as far south as Grand Junction, Colorado.

Later, they traded the plane for a trailer and continued their travels by land, going "border to border, ocean to ocean," as Florabelle described it ten years ago on their 65th anniversary.

Their adventurous spirit took them on an eight-day raft trip down the Colorado River in 1981 and to international destinations including Mexico and Australia.

Family Legacy

The Rices have built not just a marriage but a multigenerational legacy in Petersburg. Their daughter Kathleen lives in Ketchikan, son George Jr. resides in Petersburg, and son John makes his home in Colorado. Their oldest son, who would have been 75 this year, passed away several years ago. "Everybody really loved Harvey," Florabelle describes his passing as the hardest experience of their whole marriage.

The family now extends to four generations in Petersburg, including grandson Ryan Littleton and great-grandchildren Cedar and Denali continuing the Rice family story.

"I have taken as many four-generation pictures as anybody has in their life," Kathleen laughed. "It's kind of funny, because you can watch as the kids have grown bigger and the great-grands have gotten bigger."

Making it last 75 Years

Florabelle and George grew up during the Great Depression. "We were raised poor," said Florabelle. "When you talk about poor ...the 1920s into around 1938 ... we just had it really rough." Through the Works Progress Administration - part of FDR's New Deal programs to alleviate the mass unemployment of the times - Florabelle's father was eventually able to earn $36 per month, which works out to the equivalent today of around $800 a month for the family.

Florabelle's family found ways to get by, but they struggled. Thinking back to when she first met George, Florabelle says, "When I met this guy in college, he knew exactly how it was." They connected over that shared understanding. The feeling of being easily understood by one another, helped their trust and their friendship grow, remembers Florabelle.

That strong foundation of mutual respect and understanding carried them well through their years.

Money stress, often a source of conflict in marriages, was never an issue for the Rices. "We didn't worry about money, because neither one of us had any, until after college," says Florabelle.

And they deliberately stayed debt-free throughout their marriage. They enjoyed buying new cars, but never once did they buy a vehicle on credit, even the airplane was paid for with cash, says Florabelle.

Their approach to problem-solving during the marriage was similarly straightforward. Rather than ever blame each other when problems arose, they each took personal responsibility and worked to make things right, remembers Florabelle.

Diamond Years at Mountain View Manor

Now in their mid-90s, George and Florabelle live at Mountain View Manor, where they continue to cherish their memories and each other. George's hearing has declined, but the couple adapts with the same uncomplaining attitude that has characterized their entire marriage.

The Rices maintain their independence and dignity with support from the Manor's staff, particularly manager Derrick Casey, whom their daughter Kathleen credits for his attentiveness and care. "I don't know if people realize how lucky they are to have him as the manager up there," she said.

A Rare Achievement

Looking at a photograph taken the morning after their wedding 75 years ago, Florabelle smiles at the memory. "We left that house where we spent the night, and as we were driving along through Mount Vernon, Washington, there was a sign on the roadside," she recalls. "It said something about getting your pictures taken. It was as if I prayed and got an answer." They stopped, paid "a dollar and a half or something like that," and preserved that moment forever.

As George and Florabelle prepare to celebrate 75 years of marriage on March 25, they join a remarkably exclusive club. 7% of American marriages last 50 years. 0.1% last 70 years, but 75 years is so rare that the U.S. Census Bureau doesn't even track the number. Some population expert suggests fewer than 1,000 couples in the United States have been married 75 years or longer, that works out to 0.0016% of American marriages.

George and Florabelle's story stands as testament to commitment, adventure, and building a life in Southeast Alaska-from teaching in Petersburg schools to raising a family on their own island, from flying planes to building a business, and now to sharing their diamond years together at Mountain View Manor.

"You couldn't ask for anything any better than what George and I have had," Florabelle reflects with satisfaction. "I've never, ever thought I made a mistake. Never."

What she said ten years ago on their 65th anniversary, remains true: "It's been quite a ride."