Ruedy 50th Anniversary

Ruedy 50th Anniversary

Wowsie dowsie! 50 years! What a ride it has been!

From those first dates in 1963 (he said he really liked her headband, so she bought a dozen more!) to the emerald engagement ring on the year

anniversary of their first date, to that gorgeous

Indian summer day on Oct. 2, 1965, when George Ruedy and Shirley Blood were married at

Immaculate Conception Catholic Church - it's been an amazing mix of fun, excitement, sorrow, and

always, time to live Poe's wonderful verse:

"We loved with a love that was more than love…"

The Good: The arrival of a 6-pound package, all squeaks and squawks and gummy smiles, named Anne Marie - who with husband, Bill Stephens, gave us two more wonderful packages of squeaks and squawks and gummy smiles: Ella and Jack!

The Exciting: Travel to Bermuda, Istanbul, Ireland, Europe, Alaska and the Caribbean; hot-air balloon rides, whitewater rafting, glass-bottom boats.

The Sorrowful: Cancer, four times, between us.

We walked shoulder-to-shoulder at Mayo, each the rock for the other in their time of crisis.

God smiled: We survived!

Then, something we never envisioned in 1965: The year 2015 and a golden anniversary! Still, Poe's

poetry is alive: "We loved with a love that was

more than love..."