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Lifetime commitment -- Couple celebrating 70 years of marriage
Feb 14, 2012 (The Porterville Recorder - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) --
There is one thing that Felix James Miller, 90, of Porterville has never regretted -- falling in love and marrying a girl he saw more than 70 years ago sitting under a big tree in northern Texas.
That day, Memorial Day 1941, Miller was on his way to Oklahoma from California to help his father on the family ranch. On his way, he stopped in northern Texas.
That day changed his life.
"I met the love of my life that day," Miller said of Shirley Mae Simpson. "She was the most splendid woman. I knew within two weeks, this was the woman of my life."
On Dec. 7, the two sat in their Porterville living room, reminiscing about their early courtship -- with Miller sharing the majority of the story. Simpson-Miller, 88, who suffers from Alzheimer's, watched him, acknowledging she couldn't remember everything but smiling, occasionally adding small details to the stories.
"He wrote me a song," she said and Miller started to sing it to the tune of Tony Bennett's "I left my heart in San Francisco."
"I met my love in Burkburnett, Texas. In 1941, on Memorial Day. Sitting at 502 East Main Street, her sister, Rue, was setting her hair, I declare," he sang to her and then continued his story. "Shirley was gentle -- always putting her brain in gear before opening her mouth."
Miller's younger brother was dating Simpson's sister.
The two couples double dated that night and a few more dates followed.
It was not long before the two teens, then 19 and 18, started talking about marriage.
Miller took a job in Connecticut, working with the National Youth Administration. Simpson followed him.
"Then December 7 came along and that changed a lot of things," Miller said. "Her mother said to me 'We're at war. You can't get married.'"
But nothing could keep the young couple from wanting to start their life together, and on March 11, 1942, Felix James Miller married Shirley Mae Simpson in Connecticut. The honeymoon consisted of borrowing a friend's 1942 Pontiac to get a hamburger.
"He just handed me the keys and said for me to take the car for the day," Miller said. "I didn't keep the car all day. I was scared to scratch it. It was a brand-new, green, two-door sedan."
In the fall of 1942, Miller joined the Army Air Force. His bride returned to Texas to live with her parents on Childress Air Base, where her father worked.
While he was away, Miller said he would write letters to her, but could not reveal what he was up to or where he was -- so he sent hints to her. When he was under the command of Lt. Col. Jimmy Doolittle, Miller wrote his bride, asking her to "do a little thinking." Simpson had been reading the letter in bed when she suddenly figured it out, he said.
"She ran to her parents' room and woke them up and said excitedly, 'I know where's he's at. I know where he's at. He's with Jimmy Doolittle,'" Miller said.
Four years later, Miller finally returned.
"I know I was excited to be back and see her but my memory is a little fuzzy," he said.
The Millers said life was almost perfect. Only a child was missing and they started looking into adoption.
On Nov. 9, 1954, the baby they would eventually adopt was born.
"He was a cute little guy, about five months old when we met him," Miller said. "I guess you could say we both grew up fast -- growing over night from regular duties to having a family."
Shortly after, the Millers started an adopted-family club, getting together once a year with friends who also had adopted children. They also got involved in square dancing and traveled in a motor home throughout the United States.
Michael James Miller, now 58, said his parents have been an inspiration to him.
"They have been, for as long as I've been around, totally devoted to each other," Michael Miller said. "Both of them are two of the sweetest people I have ever been around. I'm hoping I could do all they did -- the traveling, the cruises, flying all over the world. They've had a great life together."
The couple will celebrate their 70th wedding anniversary on March 11.
"I don't know that we will do anything really," he said.
In the past, the couple has been creative -- wanting to celebrate their happiness with others. Two years ago, they cashed $300 into $10 bills. They then headed to McDonalds in Porterville for breakfast and handed out $10 bills to people coming in, telling them that it was their 68th anniversary and they want to celebrate by paying for breakfast.
The couple, who has been blessed with three grandchildren, Travis, Jessica and Kirk, said they might do something similar this year.
"We had so much fun," Miller said. "We might do that again but if we do, we'll probably just buy some McDonald fun books."
But even if they don't do anything, Felix Miller said he's content, because it has been the simple things that have kept their marriage together, Miller said and then offered advice for other couples.
"You got to learn to save. When you first start off, save a portion of each check -- save 10-percent. If that is too steep, save 5-percent. This will help later with money matters," Miller said. "We saved like the devil and put off having certain things -- just buying what we needed to get by."
Miller, who said he's a Methodist but does not attend church, also advises couples to remember the 10 Commandments and to say the Lord's Prayer daily.
"But all these years, she's been the only one for me," Miller said. "I call her 'Sugar' because she has the sweetest lips of any girl I have ever kissed."
___ (c)2012 The Porterville Recorder (Porterville, Calif.) Visit The
Porterville Recorder (Porterville, Calif.) at www.recorderonline.com Distributed
by MCT Information Services
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