The Heart of Love:
Local Couples Share The Keys to Success
by Crystal Han
On Valentine’ s Day we usually buy gifts to express our love for someone. But what is the greatest expression of love? While gifts are always nice, couples who have been married for decades know that true love isn’ t something that’ s bought; it’ s built.
Steve and Jennifer Tate
59 years later, it feels like everything and nothing has changed. The couple have welcomed children, grandchildren, and now their first great grandchild, and have navigated life’ s ups and downs together. Through everything, they have never stopped enjoying each other’ s company.“ We’ ve never had a bad year. Maybe some bad days or a bad week or two, but never a bad year. Whatever crises we were faced with, we managed to come through as a team still. Not to say there weren’ t some words along the way,” Jennifer said.
When people ask Steve and Jennifer how they first met, they laughingly say they have no idea. After 59 years of marriage, and years of friendship beforehand, it feels like they’ ve always known each other.“ We were part of a group at Cal State that played bridge in the Bear’ s Lair and met for coffee and cut classes and hung out together. In a situation like that, there’ s no moment in time where we first meet. We just started off as friends and ended up this way,” Jennifer said.
The two started to see each other as more than friends after Steve kissed Jennifer at a party. They began to go on dates, without their friend group in tow, and the more time they spent together, the closer they became until they decided to get married.
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