Medina couple celebrates 72nd wedding anniversary
Photo by Ginny Kropf: Stanley and Mary Stack of Medina celebrated their 72nd wedding anniversary Friday at the North Wing of Medina Memorial Hospital. Staff provided cake and punch for family, friends and residents.
MEDINA – A Medina couple celebrated a milestone Friday which most people don’t get to experience.
Stanley and Mary Stack observed their 72nd wedding anniversary.
The couple met when she, the former Mary Hibbard, was only 17 and Stan was 23. He had just returned from the Navy, where he served at submarine bases in Pearl Harbor and New London, Conn.
Mary said they always had music back then at Sacred Heart on a Saturday night, and that was the place to go. Stan didn’t dance, Mary said, but his friends asked her to dance.
Then Stan’s brother-in-law introduced them – and that was that.
Mary went home and woke her mother up to tell her she was “going to marry that guy.” Stan said a week later he asked her out to the Club again.
Mary lived on Church Street and Stan on Oak Street. They didn’t have a car, so had to walk wherever they went.
Stan was working the afternoon shift at Harrison Radiator in Lockport, and Mary stayed up every night so she could talk to him when he got home. Other than the usual teen crushes, Stan was the first boy Mary dated.
A year later, they were married.
Eighteen years later they had their daughter Lisa, who lives in Missouri with her husband Howard Joseph of Medina. They also have a granddaughter Allison, who lives in North Carolina.
Stan and Mary admit they had their arguments, but Stan said they always worked through them.
Stan retired from Harrison Radiator after 31 years. Mary’s jobs included the telephone company, Niagara Chemical in Middleport and selling real estate.
For the past year, Mary has resided in the North Wing, where Stan visits nearly every day.
Stan never expected to reach his age. At 91, he was still doing his own lawn work. He goes to church and plays cards several days a week.
“So now we take one day at a time,” he said. “But we’re going for 73.”
