Love, honor, cherish

bought their house on Windomere, where they still live, about 55 years ago. Jacob eventually went to work for Wyeth Laboratories, where he stayed 35 years before retiring in 1986.

Joyce served as a church secretary. Eventually, she became a good cook.

“We always had dinner at home around the table,” daughter Jerri says.

Every night, when Jacob came home from work, Joyce would hand him a glass of iced tea. He didn’t even know how to get ice before he retired, Jerri teases, and Joyce chimes in: “He didn’t even know where the refrigerator was.”

Joyce and Jacob have been married for more than 62 years, and two of their children have marriages that have lasted more than 32 years.

“I think you have to have compatible interests,” says daughter Lisa Locke Pittman.

Pittman’s daughter, Katie McNiff, is a newlywed with a 6-month-old son, and she agrees.

“Even when we hate each other, we can still play video games together,” McNiff says of her relationship with her husband.

For Jacob and Joyce, who still hold hands and call each other “baby,” faith in God has been a sustaining factor in their marriage. They pray together, hand in hand, “morning noon and night,” Joyce says.

“We’ve always loved the same things,” she says. “We loved the Lord and we loved our family, and we loved our children.”

On Christmas day, as the snow came down, Jacob and Joyce cooked a meal together for their family. They savored every moment of it, they say.

“We’re still making good memories,” Joyce says.

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