70 years of marital success

There’s an old saying that in the spring, a young man’s heart turns to what a woman has been thinking about all winter.

In the spring of 1946, young men, fresh from World War II, were looking to start the lives they put on hold — find a love and have a family of their own. Early that spring, Clarence “Pat” Patterson met Barbara Voss on a blind date.

Pat was back home in Hazleton after three years in the Army. He met up with an old friend from high school, whose girlfriend just happened to have a cousin coming in from New Jersey for the weekend.

Not wanting her to feel like a third wheel, the couple made arrangements for Pat and Barbara to meet. They spent the whole weekend getting to know each other, and started dating steady.

“Whenever we could have free time on the weekend, the four of us would get together,” he said.

“Everything. I liked everything about him,” Barbara said. “He knew more than I did.”

On June 28, 1947, they became husband and wife, marrying in Barbara’s parents’ home in Ramsey, New Jersey.

Now in their 90s, they plan to celebrate their 70th wedding anniversary with a special lunch, just for two, at The Palmerton, a senior living community formerly called The Village at Palmerton, where they live.

“She robbed the cradle,” Pat said. Barbara is four years older than him. “So we both were lucky.”

It was a simple wedding, Barbara said. She had one bridesmaid — a friend from college. She wore a nice dress, not a gown, and carried a small bouquet of flowers.

They didn’t have much money, but they borrowed Pat’s father’s car, a 1938 four-door Buick sedan, and drove to Lake George in the Adirondacks of New York for a honeymoon.

When they came home, they moved to State College. Pat was in his second year at Penn State, majoring in education.

They rented two rooms from a family in Port Matilda, and moved in. A year later, their first daughter was born. And as soon as Pat finished college and got a teaching job, they came back to eastern Pennsylvania.

“The rest is history,” Pat said.

He would go on to work for 35 years as a shop teacher in the Nazareth Area School District.

They raised two daughters and a son, went to worship at the First Presbyterian Church in Slatington and took the children to Vermont every summer to visit Barbara’s parents, who retired to a home near a lake.

“We never had a lot, but we had each other,” he said.

They built a home in 1954 in Walnutport. Pat recalls that their first mortgage was $69 a month.

“We thought, ‘How are we ever going to do that,’ ” he said.

Barbara eventually went back to work as a special-education teacher for 21 years at Colonial Intermediate Unit 20. And they even opened their own archery business in Walnutport — Pat’s Archery.

“I learned to shoot, because my wife taught me,” he said. Barbara competed with an archery team at the Maryland College for Women.

Like all couples, there were ups and downs, too.

Pat said the secret to 70 years can be summed up in two words, “Yes, dear.”

“It’s a 50/50 deal and you better learn that right off the bat,” he said. “Don’t ever go to bed angry. There’s a lot of truth to that.”

Although, they didn’t always follow that advice, he said.

Their family was coming to celebrate with them on the weekend. In all, there are six grandchildren and five great-grandchildren with one more on the way. They are proud that all of their grandchildren went to college.

“Proud of the children,” Barbara said. “Enjoy them.”

Reaching the marital milestone of 70 years wasn’t something that Pat and Barbara set out to do. But last year when they made it to 69 years, it crossed Pat’s mind.

“I hoped we would make it another year,” he said. “She’s my one and only.”