Yesterday we celebrated my grandparents' 70th wedding anniversary. Below is the toast I gave at the reception.


On December 23, 1936, two teenagers, Dale Pennington and Queenie Amis got married.

That was seventy years ago. Seventy years is a long time. When they got married, they couldn’t call their friends on their cell phones to share the news. They couldn’t fly to some exotic honeymoon spot because there were no commercial flights in that day. Their announcement couldn’t be made on the evening news because there was no television. The wedding could not be blogged because not only was there not an internet, there were no personal computers or computers period. Heck, there weren’t even pocket calculators in those days. Cars did not have cruise control, automatic transmissions, and certainly not GPS satellite location. There were no space shuttles, no moon landing, not even a chimpanzee had been shot into space. My grandmother didn’t have a microwave oven to cook their first meal in, but she did have a cast iron skillet.

When Dale and Queenie got married, it was in the midst of the Great Depression, so they didn’t have a lot. But they did have tremendous love for each other. That love saw them through good times and bad times, military service, good jobs and bad jobs. Their love literally gave birth to three children and numerous grandchildren and great grandchildren.

Seventy years of marriage is a milestone and testimony to Dale and Queenie’s faith in God and love for one another. You are an inspiration to me and all those assembled here today. We celebrate your seventy years, and as you walk hand-in-hand into the sunset of your days, we pray that they will continued to be filled with the happiness and love that has marked your lives together.

To Dale and Queenie Pennington, Happy 70th Anniversary!