Not in any Christian church would living together be accepted as marriage. Some states had what was called 'common law.' (6 years or more normally) It's only meaning was for the man to 'Pay up' if they separated. However common law marriage is not accepted in Hawaii now and probably not then.
They were married in 1965, she left Soetoro in 1972.Divorced in 1980. 40 or 50 years is not even close.
The “40 or 50 years” comment was in reference to the Dunham marriage, not Soetoro or Obama.
I think the point is that, if indeed the Dunhams were never married, it would lend credence to the hypothesis that Stanley Ann and Barack Jr.’s supposed marriage was also a sham, common-law at best.
The thread was about Obama's mother's birth certificate, and the article said that according to some rumor her parents (Barack Obama's grandparents) may not have been married. That's who I was talking about.
It would have been strange if the Dunhams had a child in Kansas in 1942 and didn't marry, but in any case Obama's grandparents were together for over fifty years -- from 1940 to 1992. I don't know what it matters know, but they were married while Madelyn was still in high school, and it's hard to think they would have faked the marriage.
I apologize, I thought you were talking about Soetoro’s marriage.