Louisiana Couple Married for 80 Years

Childhood playmates married for 80 years
What a wonderful story from the Baton Rouge Advocate:
CROWLEY — Some couples take the “till death do you part” section of their marriage vows a little more seriously than others.

Newton Hilliard Leger and his bride Anna Oliver have been married for 80 years. The couple still share the same Crowley home where they have always lived, and share a bedroom with two twin beds set up “I Love Lucy”-style.

Newton is 100 years old, and Anna is 97.

They married on Feb. 3, 1929, and never looked back.

Some four children, eight grandchildren, 13 great-grandchildren, and 10 great-great grandchildren later, they have definitely left their genealogical mark on the world.

The Legers were recently honored at their home by the Louisiana Family Forum as the longest-known married couple in Louisiana, and were inducted into the Louisiana Family Forum “Marriage Hall of Fame.”

They also received a proclamation from Gov. Bobby Jindal’s office and blessings from their local priest, the Rev. Michael Polson and Baptist pastor, the Rev. Roger Tarver.

The Guinness World Record for the longest marriage belongs to Percy and Florence Arrowsmith of Hereford, England, also married for 80 years.

The Legers are no longer physically spry, spending most of their time in the beds, but their minds still work just fine.

When asked if she could handle talking to reporters, Anna Leger responded: “Let ’em ask. I sure can answer ’em.”

Anna Leger said that she and Newton met early in life. His father owned a farm on which her father was the farmhand.

“We was raised together on the same plot. We played together all the time when we was little,” she said. “We went to school together.”

Anna Leger summed the whole thing up more simply.

“Be good. Be good to one another,” Anna Leger said.

Newton and Anna reportedly plan to be together forever, even in the end.

“Dad keeps saying that they’re not going one at a time. They’re going together,” Hebert said. “Married that long, we think maybe God didn’t put them in the book for when they were gonna leave.”

Anna Leger said that she does not know how much longer she and Newton will be married.

“Only God knows that,” she said.