Couple celebrates 70 years of marriage
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EAST PALESTINE -- In 1953, Edmund Hilary and Tenzing Norgay became the first men to stand on top of the world by summiting Mount Everest, Elizabeth II was crowned as Queen of England, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg executed for espionage , Dwight D. Eisenhower was inaugurated as the President of the United States and Paul Schraf, a lanky but handsome lad from Altoona, Pa. and pretty and petite LaVerne Criste of Cresson, Pa. exchanged vows.
Their love story started three years before their nuptials when LaVerne's friend set her up on a blind date.
"I had a very good friend who was in nursing training in Altoona. She had a boyfriend there," LaVerne said. "She wanted him to come to Cresson and pick her up, but he didn't have a car, so she told him 'if you know somebody with a car, I have a friend that we can fix him up with,' and that's how it all started.
Paul and his friend hopped into his 1935 Plymouth and headed to Cresson on Oct. 28, 1950 and then took the girls to the Oriental Ballroom Gallitzin, Pa. Paul and LaVerne hit it off and went out dancing again the next week ... and the week after that. That's all the time Paul needed. He knew he had found the love of his life.
"After our third date, I was out with the boys. I had just dropped LaVerne off and I went to where all the guys were and I said, 'well, I found the girl I am going to marry,' after three dates," he said. "I knew I was going to marry LaVerne."
Their dates continued and their relationship flourished. Paul's premonition seemed a foregone conclusion until a political upheaval on the other side of the world threw a wrench in their plans.
"We went on out dancing every week after that first date, but then Uncle Sam decided that Paul should go into the Army," LaVerne said. "And he shipped off to Germany during the Korean War."
Distance did little to diminish their bond. On the contrary, it strengthened it.
"My mother kept saying, 'LaVerne, you think he's not going out with those German women?' And I said, 'nope, I know he's not.' Not my Paul," Laverne said. "He wrote a letter to me every night he was gone. We both did."
Paul spent 19 months overseas. He returned home in February of 1953 and proposed to LaVerne almost immediately. Less than four months later, they were married.
"We took up our courtship right away when he got back from Germany, and the next thing I know, he's giving me a diamond ring," LaVerne said "He asked, 'When do you think we could get married?' This was in February and I said 'maybe in the fall" and he said 'What do you think about June?' and so on June 6 we were married."
In keeping with the whirlwind fashion of their relationship, their first child, a baby girl, was born 10 months later. Seven more children would follow, eight total in the next 13 years.
"Then we found out what was causing all those children," Paul joked.
The couple would build a home in Beaver Falls. Paul supported his family working long days as a carpet layer and LaVerne was busy raising their babies. It wasn't wasn't always easy, but it was worth it.
"Everybody thinks that having kids is fun, and it is, but it's also a lot of work," Paul said. "It's more work than it is fun, but we enjoyed every minute of it."
When their children grew up and embarked on lives of their own, the empty nesters decided to move south.
"We decided there was an awful lot of snow and an awful lot of grass to cut around our property so we moved to North Carolina and lived there for about 12 years," LaVerne said.
As the years passed and their siblings grew older, the need to spend time with their family lured them back to the area. The couple would eventually resettle in Columbiana County where they've been ever since.
The couple, now in their 90s, are grandparents to 24. The newest addition to their family was born just days before their 70th anniversary when little Liam became their 15th great-grandchild. "We've been blessed," Paul said. "We have had a wonderful life and we know we've been mighty lucky."
While Paul credits luck, LaVerne credits love.
"We've had luck but we've also had a lot of love," she said. "I told my friend one day that my favorite time of the day is when we go to bed and I'm right there beside him."
selverd@mojonews.com