Posted on 11/24/2005 5:56:02 PM PST by paulat
70 years later, 'secret lovers' still wed
BOISE, Idaho (AP) -- When 19-year-old Ron Ramey fell in love with 14-year-old Marcella, doubters said it would never last - they were just too far apart in age. But the young couple didn't listen, spiriting from Nezperce to New Meadows to get married in secret. On Saturday, the Rameys will celebrate their 70th wedding anniversary.
He's 90 and she's 85, both in good health. And the romance that began so long ago is far from losing its luster.
"I still love him so much," Marcella told The Idaho Statesman. "When we go to bed at night, we always hold hands. 'I love you' are the last words we say to each other."
Their wedding anniversary has fallen on Thanksgiving seven times since their wedding in 1935.
Advertisement
"We're thankful to have had all these years together," Ron said. "We had no idea that it would last this long."
When they started dating, he worked at a meat market for a dollar a day, and she worked at a drug store for 10 cents an hour. One of Ron's duties was delivering ice, and Marcella would leave the icebox open - letting the precious ice melt - so he'd have to come by more often.
He proposed in a letter, and Marcella's response was simple.
"I wrote back and said, 'Yes, yes, yes,'" she said. "We had a friend drive us to New Meadows to get married so it wouldn't be in the paper in Nezperce. We didn't want anyone to know because I was so young. My folks were really put out when they found out, but in those days, people wanted kids to leave home because money was so scarce. It was one less mouth to feed."
Buy AP Photo Reprints
The newlyweds moved in with Ron's father and stepmother in Grangeville, where Ron worked as a dishwasher and part-time cook. Eventually, Marcella's aunt offered her a job at a bakery in Emmett, and the couple moved.
By then, they had their first child, a boy they named Marsh. The place where they lived in Emmett was so small that the kitchen, bed and shower were all in one room.
"I worked nights and slept days," Ron said. "When the baby cried, I could reach out and rock him without getting out of bed."
"He made $15 a week," Marcella added. "We never went anywhere because we couldn't afford it. The grocer let us charge $5 a week, and he'd throw in a box of candy. That was the only treat we ever got.
Water was drawn from a pump, which often froze in the winter. The weather would turn so cold that the nails on the inside of the house would be covered in frost, and without money for blankets the Rameys stuffed newspaper in the bed for insulation.
After three years in Emmett, they moved to Boise, with Marcella little more than a teenager.
"Mom made me clothes from hand-me-downs that had come from my aunt's," their daughter, Kay Gaskell, said. "And those were clothes they'd received from their cousins."
Though Gaskell often had to put cardboard in the soles of her shoes because of holes, she never felt poor, she said.
"We had the love of our parents, and they made a beautiful, loving home for us," she said.
For all but those first 14 years of her life, Marcella said, they've never been apart. Now they live in Boise, close to their children.
"People don't say 'Ron and Marcella.' They say 'Ron-Marcella' because we're always together," she said. "Sometimes I worry about which one of us will go first. I tell him he's not going anywhere without me."
---
Information from: The Idaho Statesman, http://www.idahostatesman.com
And yes, that includes even the unsavory vocations.
And the legal age of working in porn is 18; the age of majority. Lower the age of majority and guess what happens.
Perhaps I have been too confrontational in my original message (#4), but my point stands. I have grave reservations about anyone championing child marriage as I believe such is a recipe for child exploitation.
Okay, everybody. Get in your shots. Not fighting it anymore.
| All races | White | Black | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Both sexes | Male | Female | Both sexes | Male | Female | Both sexes | Male | Female |
| 2002 | 77.3 | 74.5 | 79.9 | 77.7 | 75.1 | 80.3 | 72.3 | 68.8 | 75.6 |
| 2001 | 77.2 | 74.4 | 79.8 | 77.7 | 75.0 | 80.2 | 72.2 | 68.6 | 75.5 |
| 20001 | 77.0 | 74.3 | 79.7 | 77.6 | 74.9 | 80.1 | 71.9 | 68.3 | 75.2 |
| 1999 | 76.7 | 73.9 | 79.4 | 77.3 | 74.6 | 79.9 | 71.4 | 67.8 | 74.7 |
| 1998 | 76.7 | 73.8 | 79.5 | 77.3 | 74.5 | 80.0 | 71.3 | 67.6 | 74.8 |
| 1997 | 76.5 | 73.6 | 79.4 | 77.2 | 74.3 | 79.9 | 71.1 | 67.2 | 74.7 |
| 1996 | 76.1 | 73.1 | 79.1 | 76.8 | 73.9 | 79.7 | 70.2 | 66.1 | 74.2 |
| 1995 | 75.8 | 72.5 | 78.9 | 76.5 | 73.4 | 79.6 | 69.6 | 65.2 | 73.9 |
| 1994 | 75.7 | 72.4 | 79.0 | 76.5 | 73.3 | 79.6 | 69.5 | 64.9 | 73.9 |
| 1993 | 75.5 | 72.2 | 78.8 | 76.3 | 73.1 | 79.5 | 69.2 | 64.6 | 73.7 |
| 1992 | 75.8 | 72.3 | 79.1 | 76.5 | 73.2 | 79.8 | 69.6 | 65.0 | 73.9 |
| 1991 | 75.5 | 72.0 | 78.9 | 76.3 | 72.9 | 79.6 | 69.3 | 64.6 | 73.8 |
| 1990 | 75.4 | 71.8 | 78.8 | 76.1 | 72.7 | 79.4 | 69.1 | 64.5 | 73.6 |
| 1989 | 75.1 | 71.7 | 78.5 | 75.9 | 72.5 | 79.2 | 68.8 | 64.3 | 73.3 |
| 1988 | 74.9 | 71.4 | 78.3 | 75.6 | 72.2 | 78.9 | 68.9 | 64.4 | 73.2 |
| 1987 | 74.9 | 71.4 | 78.3 | 75.6 | 72.1 | 78.9 | 69.1 | 64.7 | 73.4 |
| 1986 | 74.7 | 71.2 | 78.2 | 75.4 | 71.9 | 78.8 | 69.1 | 64.8 | 73.4 |
| 1985 | 74.7 | 71.1 | 78.2 | 75.3 | 71.8 | 78.7 | 69.3 | 65.0 | 73.4 |
| 1984 | 74.7 | 71.1 | 78.2 | 75.3 | 71.8 | 78.7 | 69.5 | 65.3 | 73.6 |
| 1983 | 74.6 | 71.0 | 78.1 | 75.2 | 71.6 | 78.7 | 69.4 | 65.2 | 73.5 |
| 1982 | 74.5 | 70.8 | 78.1 | 75.1 | 71.5 | 78.7 | 69.4 | 65.1 | 73.6 |
| 1981 | 74.1 | 70.4 | 77.8 | 74.8 | 71.1 | 78.4 | 68.9 | 64.5 | 73.2 |
| 1980 | 73.7 | 70.0 | 77.4 | 74.4 | 70.7 | 78.1 | 68.1 | 63.8 | 72.5 |
| 1979 | 73.9 | 70.0 | 77.8 | 74.6 | 70.8 | 78.4 | 68.5 | 64.0 | 72.9 |
| 1978 | 73.5 | 69.6 | 77.3 | 74.1 | 70.4 | 78.0 | 68.1 | 63.7 | 72.4 |
| 1977 | 73.3 | 69.5 | 77.2 | 74.0 | 70.2 | 77.9 | 67.7 | 63.4 | 72.0 |
| 1976 | 72.9 | 69.1 | 76.8 | 73.6 | 69.9 | 77.5 | 67.2 | 62.9 | 71.6 |
| 1975 | 72.6 | 68.8 | 76.6 | 73.4 | 69.5 | 77.3 | 66.8 | 62.4 | 71.3 |
| 1974 | 72.0 | 68.2 | 75.9 | 72.8 | 69.0 | 76.7 | 66.0 | 61.7 | 70.3 |
| 1973 | 71.4 | 67.6 | 75.3 | 72.2 | 68.5 | 76.1 | 65.0 | 60.9 | 69.3 |
| 19722 | 71.2 | 67.4 | 75.1 | 72.0 | 68.3 | 75.9 | 64.7 | 60.4 | 69.1 |
| 1971 | 71.1 | 67.4 | 75.0 | 72.0 | 68.3 | 75.8 | 64.6 | 60.5 | 68.9 |
| 1970 | 70.8 | 67.1 | 74.7 | 71.7 | 68.0 | 75.6 | 64.1 | 60.0 | 68.3 |
| 1960 | 69.7 | 66.6 | 73.1 | 70.6 | 67.4 | 74.1 | — | — | — |
| 1950 | 68.2 | 65.6 | 71.1 | 69.1 | 66.5 | 72.2 | — | — | — |
| 1940 | 62.9 | 60.8 | 65.2 | 64.2 | 62.1 | 66.6 | — | — | — |
| 1935 | 61.7 | 59.9 | 63.9 | 62.9 | 61.0 | 65.0 | 53.1 | 51.1 | 55.2 |
| 1930 | 59.7 | 58.1 | 61.6 | 61.4 | 59.7 | 63.5 | 48.1 | 47.3 | 49.2 |
I see your point . . I really do. But I'm not talking age of majority. *shrugs* Really though, two separate issues no?
First being age to work. Under that age to work in specific industries (porn, dangerous ones etc etc etc) I'm in Texas -- 15 year olds can work. But I do believe that 18 is the porn industry age here. I think in some other states it may be 21.
Second being age to marry -- which varies by state. Texas I think you can be younger with parental consent, but I don't know the specifics.
Honestly, I don't believe there can be any one hard and fast rule for everyone. Guidelines are there for a reason, but even the courts grant exceptions (the cases of emancipation of minors for example).
Please don't take that as me disagreeing with you. At 15, I was raped by a 26 year old man. At the time, I didn't consider it such, but I do now. And have since around my 26th birthday, when the magnitude of HIS actions hit me. 14 and 15 year olds in today's world are young, for the most part.
There will always be exceptions. My husband (csconerd) and I happen to be an exception to the rule as far as young marraige. There will always be some like us. There will probably always be more that fall apart. Then there will also always be the Kara Borden's *sighs*
I think my biggest issue is the 18 year old one -- they can vote, go to war, shoot a gun. . . but no alcohol? *boggles*
WOOOOT! We hit 14 on September 20 :) I love hearing from you "success stories" - it makes me so happy. And I know someday I'll be in your shoes too. It makes me smile.
It is heartwarming to read that this wonderful couple overcame the difficulties to achieve such a stellar marital record. But this couple, when in their teens they struggled together against the crushing poverty of the Great Depression, is hardly representative of the the typical teenage couple of today.
To contend that kids today have the same level of emotional maturity, a keen sense of self-sacrifice, and a similar commitment to personal responsibility is, on the whole, utter nonsense.
God bless this couple. My wife and I are at year 30 this month. I cannot imagine how bleak life would be without her by my side.
I celebrated 25 years with my Mrs. this year with the same five years difference between us, and I lokk forward to our seventyth anniversry.
"People don't say 'Ron and Marcella.' They say 'Ron-Marcella' because we're always together," she said. "But next time I'm marrying for money, believe you me."
And how would you feel if these 14-year-old girls decide to "work" in the porn industry, hmmm?
There shouldn't be a porn industry.
I believe such is a recipe for child exploitation.
I don't like child exploitation either. I just think that one stops being a child at 14... we differ.
I disagree. There are 14 year old hothouse children but there are also 14 year olds who need to be out of school, working and coping with life. Stop trying to give everyone a cookie cutter life.
Wow!
40? Some NEVER grow up.
vaudine
Happy Anniversary!
You explained why teenagers today differ from those of previous generations. I couldn't have said it any better.
It worked for me. As a matter of fact 40 years this Thanksgiving weekend I started my first job and met my future husband there. I had been 14 for one week and he had been 17 for one week. We started dating in December and were married 3 1/2 years later. We had our first child when I was 18 and bought our first house when I was 20. We turned 54 and 57 last week and are still happily married.
How wonderful!
Not mushy, a just pride in y'all doing it your way, which is always the best way.
Not sure what you're talking about.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.