We Should All Learn From People Like This

Orpha and Lloyd, 66 years together

A year ago I posted something on my wife's oldest sister and husband's 65th anniversary.

This past Saturday this same Orpha and Lloyd Gingrich celebrated their 66th by attending the wedding of Laura Gehman and Brian Ranck, a young couple from their church who greatly admired them and chose to get married on their special day, June 22. Orpha provided some of the beautiful ferns from her sun room for the occasion.

Lloyd and Orpha are just about the best friends and role models one could find anywhere. Our family has been warmed countless times by their hospitality, and our children still like to take their children to spend some time on the Richfield, Pennsylvania, farm of one of their favorite aunts and uncles.

The Gingrich children, seven in number, are a good reflection of the faith and values their parents demonstrated so well over so many years, as are the next generations of grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

What's their secret to a loving and lasting marriage? Lloyd and Orpha would be the first to say they have no such secret, that it's all about just loving and lasting, no matter what, along with keeping their faith strong and applying a bit of dry Gingrich humor when you're having a not so good day.

I find it hard to come up with a better route to "happily ever after" than that.

Thanks to daughter-in-law Deb Gingrich for the photo.