Couples give advice

Couples of over 50 years give advice to newlyweds

By Samuel Sutton Standard-Radio Post reporter

During the “honeymoon phase” of a new marriage, the thought of living with someone forever may seem easy. However, that often changes after a while.

To help with this, two local couples of over 50 years shared some tips for newlyweds.

Milton and Maxine Jung

The Jungs

Milton and Maxine Jung are a pair who have been married since November of 1968, and have known each other since March of 1966. They’ve seen their share of family and financial hardships and have also had plenty of fights, but much to some of their friends’ surprise, they’ve loved each other through the good and bad times.

“We had friends that said our marriage wouldn’t last six months,” Milton said. “We would talk to each other like we were arguing all the time, but that was the way we were. But we showed them and we stayed together longer than some of these others.”

Milton said it’s important to realize that families and couples are going to get into disagreements, but it’s important to sit down and talk it out.

“Don’t just pick up and leave after the first argument,” he said. “They took vows and they ought to honor them and stick it out.”

Maxine said the key is to respect and have patience with each other.

“You don’t always get your way,” she said. “Some people think everything’s got to be 50/50, well it’s just not like that one bit.”

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Maxine said there was a lot of give and take involved in Milton’s law enforcement career. Milton served as a police officer, Fredericksburg Police chief and Gillespie County sheriff during his career.

She said the family would sometimes plan a day together, but those plans would often change when he would get called in.

“That just became a way of our life,” she said. “You know that’s part of the job and you just adjust to it. You may not like it sometimes, but that’s just part of the job.”

Law enforcement became a part of their children’s lives too, as their daughter and son-in-law pursued careers in the field, too.

The couple also talked about working through their children’s growing pains, like when their son came out as gay. The couple said they didn’t mind this, and continued to love and support him.

Overall, the Jungs said they’re proud of how their children and family turned out.

The Ellebrachts

Sidney and Betty Ellebracht also gave some advice to newer couples.

The Ellebrachts, who grew up together in Doss, got married when Betty came back from college in July of 1961. One piece of advice they had was keeping faith in the marriage.

“I think that church, God and fellowship plays a big part in raising a family,” Betty said.

As for raising kids, the Ellebrachts also said it’s important to keep loving them and guiding them in the right direction.

“To raise a child nowadays takes a lot of faith, prayer and guidance and knowing where your kids are,” she said. “Our kids had their growing pains, too, growing up.”

Sidney and Betty Ellebracht

The Ellebrachts said working through your kids’ growing pains should be a team effort.

“We kind of worked it out together and made the best of whatever situation it was and loved them through it,” Betty said. “You can’t just say, ‘Well, you did so-and-so, now get out.’ That’s not how we raised our girls.”

They believe all of this helped guide their daughters into the successful lives they have now.

As for themselves, the Ellebrachts are now working on trying to “get to know each other all over again” after retirement.

“I think it’s a challenge for young people to realize that if they get to be with somebody as long as we have, when the retirement part comes, there’s a lot of togetherness,” Betty said. “You’re really going to have to do a lot of give and take and a lot of forgive and forget.”