George and Florabelle Rice’s apartment at Petersburg’s Mountain View Manor is filled with memories. Florabelle, 96, has a story behind each item in a collection that represents nearly a century’s worth of adventures.
“I have to say that I've really had quite a life,” Florabelle said as she walked through the space.
Photos of her and George, 98, decorate the walls alongside embroidered hangings that celebrate different marriage milestones. One, for their 66th wedding anniversary, reads, “How lucky did we get! Lovingly made for George by Florabelle.”
By now their marriage has far surpassed that milestone. In March the Rices will celebrate their 76th anniversary — an achievement very few people live to see.
The couple met in college at Western Washington University. Florabelle was waiting tables, and George was a veteran going to college on the GI bill.
When George and Florabelle decided to get married in March of 1950, she said her parents weren’t fans at first.
“Mom and Dad figured that George and I would last about a year,” Florabelle said. “That's the truth!”
Her parents eventually came around to George, and she said it never crossed the couple’s mind to get divorced.
The pair spoke to the Petersburg Pilot last year and shared that they worked as teachers for a few years in Washington before visiting Alaska and eventually making Petersburg home in 1960. The couple had four children and made a home on Sasby Island in the Wrangell Narrows across from Petersburg.
They also liked to travel. As teachers, they were able to spend their summers visiting places like Mexico and Australia. Florabelle said traveling with George is one of her favorite memories.
“We have a blast together,” she said.
If you ask George how their marriage lasted so long, he has a simple answer: “Listen to what your wife tells you to do.”
But Florabelle says they’ve been able to stay married for so long because they don’t argue.
“We've never had a fight,” she said. “We've never had a discussion about, ‘I wish I'd never married you’ or any of that.”
On top of that, she says they were always on the same page when it came to finances, and that was important.
“We’ve never questioned each other about money,” she said.
And Florabelle points out that you can’t stay married for a long time unless you live for a long time. She recommends that couples stay away from alcohol.
“It'll knock X number of years off your life,” she said. “George and I don't drink.”
Florabelle and George have had a lot of years to make memories together. She says they haven’t been a perfect couple, but one thing they’ve always been sure about is their love.
“We've never questioned each other about how we feel about each other, ever,” Florabelle said.