Couple celebrates 50 years of love

Eighteen thousand two hundred and sixty-three days. It may seem like a long time to most, but for Jerry and Karen Pentecost, those 50 years have been the sweetest days of their lives. Indeed, their love story goes back even further than that.

They originally met when they were just five years old. Her grandparents lived just across the street from him and she would attend church with them. It just so happened that he attended that very same church.

When she was 13, her father decided to start a church in Deerpark, Texas. His mother, overhearing this, decided that she wanted her family to attend the new church and they became the first family to attend it.

Sometimes, things are just meant to be, and at 14, he asked her to go steady. After their engagement, he graduated from high school and went on to college. Finally, in 1970 at the tender young ages of 18 and 19, they were wed, and it was an extra special celebration as it was also his birthday.

Together, they began helping to build churches and Mr. Pentecost has been ordained for fifty years with the United Pentecostal Church in Texas.

So what is the secret to such a long and happy marriage?

There are many things. To start, consideration for one another. Mrs. Pentecost says that if it’s important to him then it’s important to her and vice versa.

He says both have to give 100% and not fifty-fifty. They both say that it’s important to act like it is permanent, like you will be married forever, and if there is a problem, you fix it. She says they have never really had any arguments, only a few disagreements, and they never yell.

Most importantly, they say, laugh, be happy, smile, and enjoy every minute of it. As they both laugh and agree, “today, I will be as happy as a bird with a French fry.”