‘This year is very different’: Couple celebrates 55th wedding anniversary at local nursing home

STATESVILLE, N.C. — A local couple celebrated their 55th wedding anniversary at a nursing home in Iredell County. Donald and Doris Eades never imagined how different their anniversary would look this year due to the pandemic.

Donald wasn’t able to take his wife out to dinner like he always has since he is a resident at Iredell Health System’s Hospital-Based Skilled Nursing Facility. But that didn’t stop him from enjoying the special day with this wife.

The two sat six feet apart and ate together at a table the facility decorated in their honor.

“This year is very different,” Doris said. “They’re very nice people and go out of their way to do things for other folks – that’s what Donald and me always try to do too. We appreciate anyone who does anything for us.”

The couple said they met in the fall of 1960 while working at Troutman Shirt Factory and dated for another five years before finally getting married in October of 1965.

“I know the exact moment [we said ‘I do’] – 4:16 pm,” Donald said.

As the years passed, they had two sons and Doris stayed home to take care of them.

“Our youngest one, he always wanted to try things, knowing he was gonna get hurt, but he didn’t mind trying them!” Doris said.

Now, they are the grandparents of two grandchildren. Doris is 79 and Donald will be 81 at the end of October.

The two love to think back on all the wonderful memories they have had. One of their favorite memories is Doris’s 70th birthday, when the couple did a one-mile hike along the Appalachian Trail, and completed their dream of traveling out west once their youngest son left home.

“We took 19 days and finally went. We went all the way out to the Dakotas and Montana, back down through Nevada and New Mexico and Texas,” Doris said. “We bought a new truck that had a camper on the back of it. Some nights we camped in the back of the truck, some nights we stayed in a motel, and we stayed at campgrounds in camper cabins a couple of times.”

As they thought about their marriage, they said the path to a successful one is all about commitment, trust and respect for one another.

“I’ve never wanted anything different,” Doris said. “If I had to do it over I would do it over the same way.”

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Cox Media Group