Walt and Margie Cook can never buy a matching living room suite. Walt, at over six feet tall, needs a recliner with an extra-long foot rest, and Margie, not quite five feet tall, needs an extra-short one. Regardless, they always make sure their recliners sit side by side.
Walt and Margie celebrate 60 years of marriage on Nov. 23, 2017. Those 60 years have been filled with sidesplitting laughter, good stories and, most of all, unbreakable love.
They both remember the day they met like it was yesterday. Walt, fresh out of the Army, was a new history teacher at a junior high school in Coatsville, Pa. At the time, he didn’t know taking that job would change his life. During a teacher’s meeting on one cold February day, in walked Margie, a new college graduate, who recently accepted a teaching position at the school. Although it wasn’t love at first sight, the two agree it was as close as it gets.
“It took some time for us to get to know each other, but not long,” Margie recalls with a smile.
The couple went dancing for their first date, which turned out to be a challenge based on their height difference. After dancing the night away, Walt drove Margie home while she told a comical story about ruining a recipe. Unexpectedly, Walt turned to her and said, “Experience keeps a dear school, but fools will learn in no other,” a famous quote from Benjamin Franklin and a hint to his love for history.
“My head whipped to the side and I looked right at him,” Margie laughs. “I thought, ‘now who is this guy here?’”
That guy, she quickly learned, was the love of her life, and they married eight months later. “When Walt asked my father if he could marry me, my father laughed,” Margie said. “I couldn’t believe it. I think he was laughing because he was so happy. We were just lucky in love.”
The two married over the Thanksgiving holiday in 1957, because they didn’t want to take unpaid time off from work. Even though the wedding went seamlessly, Walt and Margie have one favorite story from the event. It all started when Walt forgot his toothbrush on the most important day of his life.
“I asked Margie if I could use hers, and she said ‘no,’” Walt laughs. “I thought, ‘we’re about to be married, and she won’t let me use her toothbrush?’”
Margie may be small in stature, but has always stood firm. “I share a lot of things, but not that,” she says. If Walt asked today, the answer would still be “no.”
After a honeymoon weekend in New York City, the couple came home to start their life together. Four years later, they welcomed their first child, then two more.
“Our kids take after my Margie,” Walt says. “Good looking, smart and always happy.”
Margie beams at every compliment, even after all these years. “He has always taken good care of me, and I know he always will,” she says. “Walt’s easy to get along with. I think the secret is you have to make a good choice to start with, then hang in there.”
Their cottage at Masonic Village at Elizabethtown is a collection of their 60 years together. Walls and tables are covered with photos of their children and grandchildren, souvenirs from their travels and awards the two have earned, with the love and support of one another.
“It’s important to always do what you can for the other person,” Walt says, “and to respect each other. There also has to be substance behind attraction. Fall in love with someone you share a lot in common with.”
When Walt and Margie talk about their shared passions including American history, their faith, traveling and, of course, their family, they both light up.
At Masonic Village, Walt belongs to the woodshop and the men’s chorus, and Margie belongs to the Sell Chapel Women’s Choir. Together, they give presentations to fellow residents on past presidents and first ladies and take trips to concerts, shows and Pennsylvania attractions. They’ve also enjoyed traveling across the globe.
“My big goal was to take Margie to Paris,” Walt said. A man of his word (and of romance), upon retirement, Walt took Margie to Paris, and then to Egypt, Spain, Italy, Turkey, Ireland and a number of other destinations. On every trip, he makes sure to pack a toothbrush, because, otherwise, he knows he would be out of luck.
After enduring all life’s twists and turns, Walt and Margie’s favorite place to be is still next to each other, preferably in their unmatched recliners.
