Burnet couple celebrating 76 years of marriage

BURNET — Barney Warwick was a catch. His curly hair fell down across his forehead and just seemed to naturally attract the girls to him.

But it was during a high school graduation party in Bertram that Warwick found one girl who just wasn’t going to chase him like the others. Though two years older than him, this girl  came across, one might say, as bashful.

And that appealed to the young Warwick.

“We got to the party a little late,” Warwick recalled. “That’s where I saw her. I told my brother, ‘Charlie if I ever get married that’s the woman I want.’”

On Dec. 18, Warwick and is bride Marie Warwick will celebrate 76 years of marriage.

“She taught me right, I guess you could say,” said Barney Warwick, 94.

Family and friends hosted a party for the couple Wednesday at the Oaks Nursing Home, 507 W. Jackson. The couple held hands as people offered their congratulations.

Marie Warwick said her husband wasn’t stretching the truth when he said girls chased him. 

“They did,” she said. “He was a good-looking fellow. He was easy to talk to and he had ways that made you want to be around him.”

After he first saw his bride-to-be at the party, it was almost another year before they crossed paths again, even though they didn’t live far from each other in the Oatmeal community. This time, however, the young couple didn’t let 12 months go by between visits.

“We didn’t live that far apart, so we would see each other around,” Marie Warwick, 96, said.

Eventually, Barney Warwick lived up to the statement he made to his brother the night of the party. The couple was in a buggy when Warwick leaned over and said, “Would you think you would want to marry me?”

“Yes,” replied the young woman.

About a year later on Dec. 18, 1932, the two wed.

Herbert Hoover was the president at the time, but Franklin D. Roosevelt was the president-elect. The times, ironically, were a bit similar to today’s economic woes. One thing that has remained constant the past 76 years has been the couple’s commitment to each other and their family.

They raised three children — Burton, Jim and Sally. The two sons are deceased, but daughter Sally Sylvester said her parents have always leaned on and supported each other.

“They have such a commitment to each other, their family and God,” she said. “Through the good times and bad times, they depended on each other.”

It even took a bit of stubbornness when things got a little tough, Sylvester said.

“But they worked together to solve whatever came up,” she said. “The (stability) of their relationship not only got us as a family through things, but also our extended family, friends and community members as well.”

Burnet resident James Hoover, 70, met the Warwicks when he was in his early teens. He has remained a friend for these many years and said the couple’s actions and lives have taught him many lessons.

“They understood the importance of living within their means,” he said. “They didn’t have much but they didn’t dream about what they didn’t have. That’s an attitude a lot of people today could benefit from. But I guess the main thing is neither one laid down and quit.”

Giving up was never an option, Marie Warwick said.

“I think we were pretty tough,” she said. “We didn’t even think about not being together — that wasn’t even a thought. We were bound together.”

“We had our ups and downs,” Barney Warwick said. “But, you know what, the ups were tops.”

daniel@thepicayune.com

Photo by Daniel Clifton