Many couples would likely agree that marriage is work.
A couple in Kern County has been on that full-time job for more than a lifetime, celebrating their 77th wedding anniversary this month. Verlan or "Bud," as he's called, and Olive Stevens say they can't imagine life without the other.
Inside their Weldon home, the couple park their walkers and snuggle up side by side, as they like to, and recall the first time they met.
"I don't know what she thought of me. She probably thought I was a screwball," says Bud Stevens. "The first time I saw her, she was a beauty."
"Was?," Olive jokingly asks her husband. "You tell me now I still am!"
Olive laughs at her comment and explains the first meeting with her future husband wasn't as pleasant.
"I really, when I first met him, I didn't much care for him," said Olive.
That was 79 years ago. The feeling Olive had then would begin to change after their first date.
"Our first date cost a quarter," remembered Olive.
"We went to the Fox Theater in Fullerton," Bud chimed in.
"10-cents and a 5-cent hamburger and he broke it in two and had a half of hamburger," said Olive.
"I was a big spender," joked Bud.
Bud's wooing ways won Olive's heart. And, three years later on August 24,1935, he won her hand in marriage. There are no pictures of that day, but there are memories.
"She was nervous and she was shaking all of the petals off the flowers. Anyhow, we got married," said Bud.
Those butterflies have carried Bud and Olive now through 77 years of marriage that have flown by. They share two children, 5 grandchildren, 17 great-grandchildren. And, they share every moment, good and bad together.
"She told me I'm going to he the boss," said Bud. "And, so, I thought, well that's better than fighting."
"It's been one day at a time, and now it's gotten down to one minute at a time," Olive laughed.
Special moments of their lives are everywhere in their home now. There is a 50th anniversary clock and a picture of of a 65th anniversary kiss they shared that they were more than happy to re-enact again during our interview.
"We've had our disagreements through the years, but we've always had a lot of fun making up," said Bud.
Their marriage is a bond 77 years strong. Vows shared back then are renewed in every touch now and are just as special as the first time.
"She may not be young like that girl over there. But, I got old with her, so she's still as good to me now as she was then," said Bud looking into his bride's eyes.
"I'm still happy. Are you?" Bud asks Olive.
"Yeah," Olive replies.
Bud and Olive's children, who, by the way, are 62 and 72 years old, are throwing them an anniversary party to celebrate their 77 years of wedded bliss later next month.
