TULLAHOMA, Tenn. (WTVF) — Here's a question for you. What couple do you know who has been married the longest?
One couple in Tullahoma is celebrating a pretty amazing milestone.
"Have you two known each other for a while?" I asked Bill and Charlotte Bethmann.
"For a while!" Bill smiled.
I haven't heard another story quite like Bill and Charlotte's. I'll tell you why, but, go with me on this, we're going to start with Bill's socks.
"He needs socks, so why not wear those that are fun?" Charlotte said, glancing over at Bill's socks striped in orange, yellow, green, and blue. "He's very well known for his socks at church."
Bill has his share of pairs. Some are themed after Popeye and Betty Boop. One particular pair is his favorite.
"This is my gorgeous wife, Charlotte," he said, holding up a pair of socks printed with a picture of Charlotte and hearts.
This all starts in 1948. Bill was in Pensacola, Florida in Navy flight school. He was talking to one of the other men there.
"I saw this picture on his dresser and I said, 'is that your girlfriend?'" Bill remembered. "He said, 'no, that's my baby sister.' As soon as I saw that picture on his desk, it was immediate. I knew I was going to try to marry that girl."
A few weeks later, Charlotte came for a visit and met Bill.
"I thought, oh, he's got the most beautiful smile, and I really thought he was the handsomest thing I'd ever seen!" she remembered.
In 1951 they married, the city boy from Buffalo, New York and the country girl from Franklin, Tennessee.
"I think the man I'm married to is the most wonderful person I could ever have found to marry," Charlotte nodded. "I can't say enough about him."
Bill and Charlotte had two children and have many grandchildren and great grandchildren. When I visited, they were just about to celebrate something.
Their home of Brookdale Tullahoma gathered family and residents together.
"It's special that these friends of ours have gone to all this trouble to do this for us!" Charlotte said.
A moment was being celebrated with a ceremony, a cake, and what else? Pairs of socks commemorating 75 years of marriage.
"Wow!" Charlotte said, turning a corner and seeing the gathered crowd. "Everybody's here!"
"Dear friends and family, we are gathered today in the presence of God to celebrate a beautiful and rare gift," said Pastor Kris Roberts of First Methodist Church of Tullahoma. "This is 75 years of marriage shared by our friends Bill and Charlotte, a testimony of love that has endured, faith that has sustained, and a covenant that has withstood the test of time."
Before they headed to the ceremony, I asked Bill and Charlotte if their lives have taught them anything they want to share.
"Love is the answer," Bill quickly told me. "Love is always the answer. I don't know why our society can't realize that love is the answer. Everyone we meet, we love. We've got to love them. The Lord has blessed us. I just wish people would understand that you've got to love people."
"Today we celebrate that journey, and we look forward with gratitude and hope," Pastor Roberts continued, speaking to the crowd. "Bill and Charlotte, your marriage has been a living example of enduring love. You have kept your promises and today you renew them out of a lifetime of devotion to one another. 75 years strong and still a reflection of God's fateful love."
Bill and Charlotte. What a pair.
Do you have a positive, good news story? You can email me at forrest.sanders@newschannel5.com.
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