Johnathan Walker:Married 71 years, he still remembers the moment she walked through the door: A love story

Jack and Johnathan WalkerBeverly Irvine, a Visalia, California couple, met by chance one fall day in 1951. Classes were just beginning at Sacramento City College.

“This chick came flittering by and I'd seen her once or twice before on the campus, but only vaguely,” Jack told USA TODAY Friday afternoon. “I took a strange liking for her but nothing developed right then.”

He later saw her at an on-campus meeting and was again drawn to her.

“When she walked through the doors of that first meeting … I went ‘Woooooah,” said Jack.

He eventually talked himself into asking her to a basketball game. 

Many phone calls, four children and a cross-country move later, Jack and Beverly are now 95 and 90 years old and celebrated 71 years of marriage on Feb. 7. They even renewed their vows Saturday at Park Visalia Assisted Living & Memory Care, the senior living facility they call home.

The secret to having such a long, fruitful union, they said, is that they were on the same path: they loved God and shared a passion for teaching.

In honor of Valentine’s Day, keep reading to learn more about the lovebirds, their journey and how they managed to get 71 years of marriage under their belts. 

Husband spotted his wife-to-be before he’d even spoken to her

Jack and Beverly struggle to remember specific ins and outs of their meeting, but Jack will never forget one of the first times Beverly caught his eye. The pair were at Sacramento City College and he was soon headed to state college, he said. 

He was also a member of the InterVarsity Christian Fellowship and the group rented a facility at the city college, he said. He was getting a classroom set up for an IVCF meeting when there she was again.

“It was hard not to focus on her because she attracted me in front of the school,” said Jack, who previously wrote to his daughter about his love for his wife and how they met.

He recalled attending the IVCF’s Urbana Conference in December of 1951, where he talked to several men who asked if he wanted to go to Afghanistan. 

One man thought he’d be a great fit to teach English there and suggested he study linguistics at Wycliffe’s SIL in Oklahoma. 

He took the man’s advice and later, he also studied at the Rackham Graduate School of Linguistics in Michigan to get his graduate degree in teaching English as a second language.

During his stay in Michigan, Beverly stayed in Sacramento to study early child development. The couple’s studies separated them for some time, but Jack didn’t let the distance draw a wedge between the two lovers.

“I don't know if I wore the telephone out or not,” he joked. “I know I called her a few times.”

By then, the couple hadn’t been together long but their union was quite “heartfelt,” he said. 

A marriage proposal lost in translation

By the end of 1952, Jack was working for the Ministry of Education and found out he’d be headed to Afghanistan to teach English in March of 1953.

“A friend recommended I not go out to Kabul single,” Jack wrote to his daughter, documenting his and his wife’s love story.

By then, he was smitten with Beverly and knew if he had a woman by his side in Kabul, it had to be her. He wrote to her and asked if she would go with him to Kabul. It was his way of proposing, only Beverly didn’t realize he was asking for her hand in marriage.

In response, she said they had to be married for her to go to Afghanistan with him. It was her rule and she was sticking to it.

No miscommunication was strong enough to come between the two though, and in December of 1952, Jack said he hired a car to take him from Michigan to California with a gift in tow: an amethyst necklace and earrings. 

It was then that the two talked things out and she accepted his proposal. They married on Feb. 7,1953.

“Three weeks later we were on a (propeller-driven) airplane and I was headed for another house, which was not just in another state but another country,” Beverly wrote to her daughter about a decade ago.

Eventually, they made their way back to California, settling in Visalia to be closer to their family.

California couple ‘were on the same track’

When asked what the couple’s secret is to making their love last so long, Jack said it’s not as complicated as some may think. They had common interests.

“We were on the same track and wanting to reach people with the gospel, and also wanting to teach them since that was the mechanism by which we had entry into countries,” he said.

The family traveled all around the world, including Iran, Iraq and more.

The couple’s oldest daughter, Shireen, recalls how much of a trouper her mom was during all of their adventures.

“Mom, you were the brave one,” she told her mother during an interview Friday afternoon. She recalled a big move her mother made all by herself with her children in tow.

“She traveled across the United States with all four of us kids, my brother only being 5 weeks old, me being 6 years old and the other two inbetween,” Shireen said. “I think mom was a real trouper.”

Marguerit, another one of their daughters, said their parents let them be themselves and showed them how to be hospitable. Their doors were always open to friends and family, especially those who were in between homes or making life changes.

Their parents showed them how to care for people you love.

“Both my parents demonstrated love to each other first and love to others, and also commitment to persevere through the hard times as well as the good times,” Shireen said. “That stemmed from their faith in God.”

Celebrating 71 years of marital bliss

The couple previously shared advice for lovebirds who want to make their love last.

“Compromise when you can, never go to bed mad at each other, and always put God first.”

Led by the couple’s grandson, Jack and Beverly renewed their vows Saturday at the senior living facility where they live. Surrounded by family and friends, Beverly walked down the aisle with flowers-in-hand as Jack waited eagerly for her.

Jack let his silly, humorous side shine and cracked a few jokes as their grandson discussed their vows to love one another in sickness and in health.

“I’ve been doing it but it’s kind of hard,” he said, sending the crowd into laughter. “I’ll keep it up.”