High Point couples celebrate 69 wedded years

Event is rarity for Enumclaw assisted living complex and many married couples

Love is in the air at High Point Village.

The Enumclaw assisted living facility has not one, but two, couples celebrating 69 years of marriage.

“Sixty nine years is not at all common,” Executive Director Laura Curnan said. “In fact my husband and I have been married 42 years and that’s not common either.”

Bill and Doris Berg were married Sept. 3, 1941, in Elma, Wash., while Ray and Zesta Limbo were set to celebrate their 69th wedding anniversary Tuesday. They exchanged vows Oct. 19, 1941, in Sturgis, S.D.

“It’s really been easy for us,” Doris Berg said. “We have the right kind of love.”

“We’ve had a very wonderful life together,” Bill Berg said.

The two, now in their 90s, met as teenagers and were high school sweethearts. They spent many of their six decades together as Christian missionaries in China and the Philippines. They retired to Enumclaw to be closer to their daughter. They also have a son who lives in Belfair, Wash.

For the first time in their marriage, the two are currently living apart. Bill remains at High Point Village, while Doris is healing at another facility.

It’s the time they’ve spent together, ministering to others, that binds them, Bill said.

“We feel if we can pour out our lives helping people and blessing them. It makes us more fulfilled.”

“It may sound childish, or flippish, but it’s wonderful to live together when you love someone,” Doris said. “The love that we share is special to us.”

The Limbos also met and married young.

“Our families knew one another for years,” said Ray, who turned 88 Oct. 11. Zesta will be 90 the day before their anniversary. “We weren’t total strangers.”

Their first date was a barn dance.

“I liked his looks,” Zesta said. “I still like his looks. He’s the handsomest man in the room.”

After the two married, they made a visit to Mount Rainier and met another couple from South Dakota living in Enumclaw. They purchased their farm and settled here. They raised their two children here and watched their grandchildren grow up here, too.

Through the years, the Limbos have been active members of the Enumclaw Masonic Lodge. It saddens them that of the 20 couples they were friends with at the Lodge and while bowling none are here with them to celebrate their anniversary.

“You have to learn to give and take,” Ray said about making a marriage work.

“I don’t think there is any secret,” Zesta said to their marriage longevity. “We happen to be lucky.”