Couple celebrates 70th anniversary

Great-grandparents Harry, 93, and Mary Helen Harrison, 89, are set to commemorate their 70th wedding anniversary with a celebration full of their closest friends and family on July 17.

The former "King and Queen" of The Colony Community Center met in the late 1930s in Rutherford, Tenn., when they were introduced by a mutual acquaintance. Harry and a friend were spending time at the local pool hall when it came time to pick up his friend's date, who suggested that they pay a visit to Mary Helen's house to ask her mother if she could join them.

"We came from the pool hall to pick up his date, and I didn't have one," Harry said. "This other girl, she's the one who asked."

Mary Helen's mother allowed her daughter to join Harry and the other couple, and that evening a nervous Mary Helen, who was 18-years-old, went on her first date.

The couple continued to date every weekend over the next couple of years, until Harry moved to Ohio to pursue a career as a sheet metal manufacturer. After spending a year working in Ohio, Harry took a week-long vacation to visit his friends and family in Tennessee. It was during this vacation that the couple decided to marry.

"I asked my mother if it would be OK if Harry and I got married," Mary Helen recalled. "She said, 'If you make your bed hard you'll have to lie on it.'"

"Mary Helen knew I was going back to Ohio, and she didn't like the idea," Harry said. "She didn't want me to go back to Ohio without her, so we got married and she went back with me."

The couple married on July 15, 1940, in Gibson County, Tenn. Their marriage was made official by a local judge at the courthouse, and the guest list included Mary Helen's mother and stepfather.

"Her stepdad and the old judge were buddies," Harry said. "We went to the courthouse and got married in his office."

"And then we stayed around with our folks until we moved to Ohio," added Mary Helen.

The newlyweds lived in Ohio for a couple of years, and when work slowed they headed back to Tennessee for a short while. After that, Harry found work as a public safety officer in Alabama during the war. Then the war ended and the couple moved back to Ohio, where they lived for 43 years.

Harry and Mary Helen have four children who were raised in Ohio. Once their children grew up and moved to other states, the pair found themselves longing for family.

"We were sitting there one day all by ourselves, and I decided to go back to Tennessee," Harry said. "So I talked to my son, Bill, and he said, 'come on down,' and we came back to Tennessee and stayed there for 20-something years."

The Harrisons moved to Texas about six years ago, where they've become regulars at The Colony Community Center. They enjoy chatting with their friends during coffee hour, and, until recently, they volunteered for the center by collecting donations from Kroger and delivering them to the facility. Mary Helen enjoys spending time in the fitness facility and working on arts and crafts.

The couple attributes their long, happy marriage to their deep-rooted faith.

"We were both raised in the Methodist church, and we were taught that if you get married you stick with it," Harry said. "We never thought about anything but staying together."

In addition to four children, Harry and Mary Helen have six grandchildren, and seven great-grandchildren spread out between Texas, California, and Arkansas. The entire family will be in attendance for the anniversary celebration, which will be the first time that they've all been together in several years.

Since the couple has been married, there have been 12 presidents, two world wars, and numerous other historical events.

The only gifts that the couple has asked for at their invitation-only, rarely-achieved 70th anniversary celebration are prayers for their continued health and happiness.

Lauren Groeschel is a staff member of The Colony Community Center.

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