By Bobbi Pippin
So many people search for a love that will stand the test of time. Bob and Betty Phillips found just that. At 79 years of marriage, they are the longest married couple in Fannin County. Bob is turning 99 in May and Betty just turned 94.
Bob and Betty met when they were just teenagers. Betty was at a bus stop with her friend who was waiting on a soldier friend to get off the bus. When a soldier stepped off, they thought it was the friend, so Betty sent her brother to go ask him. As it turns out, it was not the person they thought it was, but it was Bob. Bob came over to meet them anyway.
While Betty’s mother would not let her date at only 14, that didn’t stop her. Betty and Bob would sneak around so that they could see each other.
She reminisced some of the wonderful memories she had from when they were young. They would go to the movies when they could afford it, or just go out for a stroll.
Finally Betty’s mother went with them to get married. At the ages of 19 and 14, Bob and Betty went to the justice of peace to be married.
After their marriage, Bob was shipped off to Germany for World War II, where he stayed for over a year. Shortly after, Betty gave birth to their first child, Diane at the age of 15. Bob was so anxious to meet his daughter who, when he got back, was already walking. Later, they had another little girl, Cheryl.
Bob and Betty both dropped out of school around 6th and 7th grade, but that didn’t stop them from providing for their little girls and being very successful.
Betty said, “I felt like God called me to be a nurse.” She called the principle of Fannin County High School and asked if she could come back to school. She rode the school bus with her little girls every day and got her diploma.
Afterwards, she went to Licensed Practical Nurse school and then worked at Copper Basin hospital. One of the doctors at the hospital asked her how she would like being an registered nurse, so she went to Cleveland state college and became an RN.
Bob went to a vocational school and graduated in Welding. He worked as a welder until he retired. Betty described him as a “good worker who has supported us all these years.”
Betty believes that nobody should feel sorry for themselves because they had a rough life or didn’t get an education because they have proved that there is always a way. She explained that she came out of poverty. She states, “A door sometimes doesn’t open but once, and you have to know when to walk through it.”
These two have survived through so much loss but also have received so much love.
Betty states that once you get to be a certain age, all of your friends are gone. Both Bob and Betty are the only ones left of their siblings, Betty is one of six and Bob is one of 12. They have lost a daughter and a grandchild.
They are deeply loved and cared for by their second -born daughter, Cheryl Tipton and her husband Roy Tipton, who keep them out of the nursing home, take them to doctors appointments, and pick up their groceries. They are very independent and don’t feel a nursing home is the right place for them.
Betty has had two strokes and one heart attack. Bob had cancer around 20 years ago and now has dementia. They have stayed strong through it all. Betty laughed, “We just take care of each other. We fuss and fight sometimes, but we get by.”
She explains that there are good days and bad days but love will keep you together. Her advice to those in relationships is, “Don’t expect them to be perfect because they’re not going to be.” The secret to a lasting marriage, Betty and Bob said, “is a lot of praying.”