San Bernardino, Calif., Feb 1, 2012 / 01:39 am
The faith-based marriage enrichment program Worldwide Marriage Encounter has announced the 2012 state winners of its Longest Married Couple contest: a Nevada couple who married in 1933.
“The number of years many of these couples are married is just awesome,” Scott and Karen Seaborn, the U.S. leadership team for Worldwide Marriage Encounter, said of the contest entrants.
“There are four couples married 78 years, many couples married 70 plus years and quite a few couples with 60 plus years of marriage. What a testament to having a commitment to a long marriage!”
The project received 256 nominations from 47 states.
The longest-married couple to be nominated is Wilbur and Theresa Faiss of Las Vegas, Nevada, who have been married for 78 years. They were married on April 14, 1933.
The Faiss couple will be honored by the Seaborns in a special Feb. 11 ceremony in their hometown.
Couples involved in Worldwide Marriage Encounter will recognize and honor individual state winners across the U.S. over the week of Valentine’s Day.
Last year, the longest-married couple contest honored Marshall and Winnie Kuykendall of Lordsburg, New Mexico, who were married for 82 years after their 1929 wedding. Three other couples who had been married 80 years won their state contests.
Winners of last year’s contest became members of the contest’s alumni group. Couples cannot succeed themselves each year as national or state winners so that other long-married couples can be honored.
Worldwide Marriage Encounter, based in San Bernardino, Calif., has a presence in more than 90 countries and is the world’s largest pro-marriage movement.