Long and happy marriages: Twyla, Angie, and Sharon

Twyla and Pete Pederson, 65 years of marriage

I met Pete at Northwestern College in MPLS in 1954.  He was from Billings, MT and I was a farm girl from OK.  We were both raised in Christian homes and both asked Jesus to be our Savior in pre-teen years.  We dated “off and on” for three years before we got married.  Pete says we did all our fighting before we got married.  When we did get married, we vowed before God that He would be the head of our marriage. 

In 1961, Pete was hired as a part time Minister of Music at Calvary.  He held that position for 30 years besides us both teaching music in the Rochester Public Schools for 30 years.  Music was our life but so was how God was growing us.  Pete is an extrovert and I’m an introvert.  I tried to change Pete, but when nagging didn’t work I prayed to God for help.  Interestingly, God changed me and my attitude.  

We were blessed with two wonderful children, Garth and his sister, Patrice.  We dedicated them to God and He sent Garth and his family to Africa and had Patrice become a godly professor at Bethel University.  Our family is very important to us, and we pray daily for them. God just seems to make us and our family stronger.  We now have 15 in our family and it’s growing.

When we retired, God gave us different avenues of service.  We did lots of traveling–we took five trips to Africa and now spend our winters in Florida where God continues to work through us.

Our love for God and each other grows sweeter every day, and I’m beyond grateful to God for giving us 65 years of marriage.

Often I go to the verse in Colossians 1:17…

“He was before all else and it is his power that holds everything together”.

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Angie and Ray Wiens, 60 years of marriage in June

Ray and I will be married for 60 years on June 15.  It certainly doesn’t seem that long, but when I think back on those 60 years, I see four definite stages. The first one is marriage without children,  then marriage with children, then life as working professionals, and finally, retirement.  All those stages taught to love each other more as we traveled our marriage journey.  

 Several things come to mind that were important in every part of our journey.  One being that we took time to have devotions together as a couple/family.  This was more difficult during the time we raised our three children, yet very important. We loved going to church and put that as a priority in whatever stage we were in our years of marriage.  As much as we love to be together, it’s also important to have time to ourselves.  Ray’s personal time was spent working in the gardens at our country home we had for 33 years.  Mine was working on a project, reading a book or just sitting on our porch in a rocking chair enjoying the fresh air. 

We loved to travel and we took as many opportunities to travel as we could.  Just taking a car ride on a Sunday afternoon was refreshing for us -not so much for the children-left them home when they were teenagers:) 

 God has blessed us in so many ways.  We have learned and are still learning to depend on our Savior and Lord in the “Best of Times” as well as the more difficult times.  The cancer journey that Ray has been on for the past 11 years has us leaning more on God for whatever lies ahead, but still thankful that we are enjoying our married life. GOD IS GOOD!

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Sharon and Dick Bjerkaas, 58 years of marriage

This “Month of Love” is the month when Dick and I were married. February 16^th would have been our 60^th wedding anniversary. Dick passed away in August 2021, but I am very grateful for the 58 ½ years the Lord granted us together. Our families attended the same rural Free Church in west central Minnesota.

My first recollection of seeing Dick was at a church event when we were 5 and 6 years old. A precious memory is of his father being my Sunday school teacher when I was in the 5^th-6^th grade. I do not recall details of the lessons, but will forever remember his large farmer’s hands teaching from a very worn Bible. Dick and I grew up together in that church and youth group. We treasured our families’ friendship and celebrated major holidays and events together through the years and are grateful to have been blessed with a solid Christian heritage in our ancestry.  

We didn’t start dating until after I graduated from high school and Dick was home from his first year of college. Apparently, he saw the “hometown girl” in a new light! We grew up and dated in the 50s in what was one of the best times for youth – the styles and music were classic and it was a more peaceful time.

We were married in 1963 after Dick returned from his Army Reserve training. We’ve been gifted with three adult children and spouses and eight grandchildren, and treasure the memories of our ordinary, beautiful life together.