LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Marriage is meant to be a lifelong commitment. Still, nowadays hearing that a marriage has stood the test of decades isn’t exactly normal, but when it does happen it’s something to celebrate. For Joe and Dorthea Troje, there’s a lot of celebrating to do this Valentine's Day.
The couple have been married for 70 years, meeting each other in the 1950’s. Today, Joe is nearing his 101st birthday, but their love stays strong.
“It’s a little different now. You can’t help but change. You know, I love him in a different way,” Dot said.
She and Joe sat on a couch on the upper floor of The Grand Senior Living in Norton Commons looking at photos from their 70 years together.
According to Dot, the couple met while they were both working at the Boxboard in Louisville. Dot was part of the typing pool, while Joe was in the management group.
“The girl in his office was getting married. So they came to the typing pool to look for someone to work for her for two weeks, so they took me. And I went down there and she showed me around and she said, ‘We have a couple of bachelors.’ I said, ‘Where are they,’” Dot said.
“The management party, or group, was going to have a square dance party and he thought, ‘Well Dot is a farmer. She’ll know how to square dance.’ Wrong. But we went together to the square dance and that was the first date. And he didn’t ask me out again for about a month,” she said.
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“That was in the late fall. In May he asked me to marry him, on my birthday. He told me to ask my folks and sometimes he’ll tell me that Dad paid him to take me, but then we were married in October,” she said.
Joe sat in his wheelchair paging through their wedding album as Dot described the picture of her father holding a white shotgun and pretending to threaten Joe at their reception. That’s a picture that Dot says exemplified the laughs that the two have shared over the years.
She said that the two have been very active, playing sports, going out on the boat, and sharing moments with family and friends.
Dot says there are four things that lead to a marriage as long as theirs.
“The first one is respect. The other three are F words… faith, family and friends,” Dot said.
She gave an honorable mention to patience, but her actions all emphasize devotion.
I am here almost everyday. I don’t live to far. And someone told me once, ‘Dot you come here everyday.’ I said, ‘Well if your husband is 100 years old, you need to show up. Because you don’t know how many days you’re going to have with him,” she said.
The couple are looking forward to their 71st wedding anniversary coming up in October.
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