Oh, happy day, as pair revel in their 70 years

By Jean Torkelson, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published March 6, 2008 at 12:30 a.m.

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Dennis Schroeder / The Rocky

Walter and Marie Weingarten have lunch with family members Wednesday to celebrate their 70th wedding anniversary in Thornton. They have three children, four grandchildren, seven great-grandchildren and three great-great grandchildren.

Weingarten Family Photo

The March 5, 1938, wedding photo of Walter and Marie Weingarten. "It was a nice day, wasn't it?" Marie, now 89, asked. "Oh yeah," Walter, 93, replied.

Seventy years ago Wednesday, Walter Weingarten was a strapping young man plowing the family farm in Adams County when his brother Henry said,'Hey, you got an appointment to get married today!' "

"Oh gosh, I forgot that," Weingarten told him.

This week, his bride, Marie, now 89, looked at him across the kitchen table and asked, "Did you really forget?"

"Yeah - I was working the land," Weingarten, 93, replied.

Then he smiled.

Ever since that March day in 1938, love and work have gone hand in hand for the Weingartens. They still live on the same land where Walt, as he's known, grew up.

It's where the 23-year-old farmer hurried from the fields that Saturday to fetch his 19-year-old bride, Marie Hill, from the nearby farm, and head for Castle Rock to get their license. (Why Castle Rock? "We wanted to take a little trip," he said.)

On Wednesday, the couple had the first of several 70th anniversary celebrations with family. The clan includes three children - Kathryn, Sunny and Sonja - four grandchildren, seven great-grandchildren and three great-great grandchildren.

The Weingartens are healthy, just slowed by arthritis. Thanks to Sonja, their daughter and daily caregiver, as well as other family and neighbors, they can keep living in the sun-filled red brick home they built in 1959 near East 80th Avenue and Washington Street. Years ago they sold off all but 15 acres of the 100-acre farm. It vanished under shopping centers, tract homes and I-25.

When they married, the farm was a family enterprise and Marie was a hard-working companion.

"I did the tractor work," Marie said, to which her husband added a detail: "She ran the 'Cat.' "

The couple got to know each other on the playing fields of the North Washington Farmers, a local baseball team. Walt was the catcher. Marie was the scorekeeper.

She knew right away she had met Mr. Right: "That was it," she said.

So what are their tips for a lasting marriage?

"She tried to get rid of me and I just wouldn't go," he teased, then grew serious and said, "The really, really big thing is - we agreed on everything."

"I knew better," Marie explained.

"And I took her suggestions," he said.

The greatest crisis of their lives was when Sunny, their only son, contracted polio in 1949.

"That was the worst," Walt said. For 40 years they cared for Sunny in an iron lung.

Today he lives on his own with an attendant and has achieved recognition as a die-hard Broncos' supporter and official fan representative.

When Sunny was a child, "they said he couldn't make it, and he's just celebrated his 66th birthday," his father said with pride.

For several moments the couple studied their wedding photograph, and remembered.

After getting the license, they drove to Denver to be married by a minister, accompanied by Walt's brother Henry and his girlfriend. They had their photo taken, then went for a steak dinner at Solomon's, one of Denver's best restaurants. Finally they turned for home, where their families threw them a reception.

"It was a nice day, wasn't it?" the bride said, looking across the kitchen table at her groom.

"Oh yeah," he replied. "It was a nice day, a good day, a happy day."

torkelsonj@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5055

• March 6, 2008

  7:43 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  kathyM writes:

  Happy 70th, Weingartens!

• March 6, 2008

  8:27 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  phoneman writes:

  My parents and I have known the Weingartens for 70 years. They are a wonderful couple. I wish them all the best.

• March 6, 2008

  9:26 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  fiesty writes:

  Incredible. I wish you two the best, and here's to many more happy years!

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