It happened at the National Shrine this past weekend — and the Catholic News Agency article spotlights a deacon and his family:

More than 580 couples renewed their marriage vows at a Sunday Mass celebrated by Archbishop of Washington Donald W. Wuerl at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. Couples offered a variety of advice for a long-lived marriage. Participants were from Washington, D.C. as well as suburban and southern Maryland Catholic parishes. Some couples had been married for as long as 68 years. Of the couples at the Mass, 254 were married for 50 or more years.

The archdiocese recounted in a press release the story of participants Thomas and Rose Spalding, who first met when Thomas was seven years old. They married when he was 23 and she was 18. He has been a deacon at Our Lady’s Church for 20 years.

Mr. Spalding told the archdiocese he recalls a “beautiful life” with his wife in a marriage that has produced nine children, 18 grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.

“It’s been so wonderful, I just wonder where else you can go from here?” he commented.

Two brothers and their wives also renewed their vows. Dave and Pat Warner met while he was in the U.S. Army. They wrote to each other for two years before marrying 55 years ago. Chris and Judy Warner, who have been married for 40 years, met when she came to Washington to visit friends.

Asked the secret to a happy marriage, Chris replied “I was raised if you make a commitment you stay with it.”

There’s much more at the link. Check it out.