TOLEDO, Ohio (WTVG) – As we get ready to celebrate Valentine’s Day, a Lenawee County couple is getting ready to mark a major milestone. More than seven decades of love!
It’s a love story that’s first chapter was written nearly 80 years ago, and throughout the pages of the story are plenty of lessons for all of us.
Lee and Nancy Vavrinek of Tecumseh have been sweethearts since high school.
“We started going together in 1946 and we were married in 1950,” Lee Vavrinek said.
It all started after Lee asked Nancy to go to a dance.
“After he asked me to go to the dance, we started going steady. He had a Model T. When he would drive me home, my dad kept coming outside taking out the garbage walking by the car, even though it wasn’t trash day!” Nancy Vavrinek said.
Lee is 95, turning 96 next week and Nancy is 94.
“Life is so interesting and I am not ready to leave it yet. I’m hoping to make it to 100,” Lee Vavrinek said.
As they turn the page on another year of their nearly 80-year love story, Lee and Nancy know how lucky they’ve been to have each other through the ups and downs.
“We’ve just had a fun life. We’ve had problems. He conquered lung cancer and to me, that’s a miracle. That was hard. Our kids are wonderful and grandkids are wonderful. We also have great-grandkids now,” Nancy Vavrinek said.
So what’s their secret?
“I don’t have a clue! I love her, she loves me and we’re compatible. there’s really no secret. We love each other and we keep active. We do keep active,” Lee Vavrinek said.
Active might be an understatement. The Vavrineks have a long list of volunteer activities at church and in their neighborhood.
“We volunteer at blood drives, at the food bank. I cut the baseball field at church and I volunteer at the condo complex painting house numbers and changing lights,” Lee Vavrinek said.
The two also have an evening ritual that may have something to do with their longevity.
“For sixty years we have had a two-ounce cocktail every night along with peanuts or pretzels and then we have dinner,” Nancy Vavrinek said.
So as they mark another year, they plan to keep doing what’s worked so far.
“Love, trust, being together, doing things together. I don’t know what I’d do without him,” Nancy Vavrinek said.
While they didn’t start dating until high school, Lee and Nancy have known each other since they were young children because their parents were friends. They have four children, 10 Grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren. Their 75th wedding anniversary is this August.
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This article was published by WTVG on 2025-02-11 18:39:00
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