Memorable milestone
Couple celebrate diamond anniversary during
When Donald and Mariann Jeffrey of Southgate eloped 75 years ago, at age 17, his father predicted their marriage would last six months — a prediction that was off by 894 months.
Donald Jeffrey says the two met in grade school, at Angell Elementary School in Detroit.
“We saw each other, but we didn’t really know each other,” he says.
The two became a couple in high school, and eloped April 21, 1945, during their senior year in high school.
The two attended different Detroit high schools: Donald was at Northwestern, and Mariann was at Cass Tech. A buddy drove them to Wauseon, Ohio, where they thought the marriage age was lower than Michigan. It wasn’t, but after they got a blood test, a Methodist minister married them anyway.
When Donald Jeffrey tried to pay the minister with his last three dollars, the minister looked at them, decided they needed it more than he did, and returned it.
The newlyweds then rushed back to Michigan, because Donald Jeffrey had a baseball game to play in, during which he hoped to be scouted by the Detroit Tigers.
In October, 1945, following their high school graduation, Donald Jeffrey was drafted into the Army, as World War II was drawing to a close, where he served for a year and nine days, in a finance capacity, distributing mustering out pay.
After his military service, he attended Dorsey Business School. He then worked for the National Bank of Detroit for 47 years, and wrote a book about the history of Michigan banking.
He and Mariann, who studied nursing and was a stay-at-home mom, raised four children: Daniel, 72, Cathy (who predeceased them in 2006), Kenneth, 66, and 61-yearold Don Jr., who have provided them with six grandchildren and two
great-grandchildren.
On their anniversary, April 21, with the pandemic and social distancing in full force, their family had congratulatory signs placed on the lawn of their Southgate house, in which they have lived for 67 years. In addition, a fire engine and five police cars, with lights flashing and sirens wailing, paraded past their house in tribute to the anniversary pair.
“Nobody could come in,” Donald Jeffrey says. “They all had masks on, and we were on the porch, and we were taking all these pictures.”
The two have a cottage on Lake Erie in Leamington, Ontario, which they inherited, where they enjoy spending time with their family.
Donald and Marianne Jeffrey celebrated their 25th anniversary at the Methodist Church in Wauseon, Ohio, where they were married, and spent their 50th anniversary in Aruba. They had a party with family and friends for their 73rd anniversary.
Donald Jeffrey says loving and respecting each other is a key element of their long and happy marriage.
“Don’t ever go to bed if you’ve had a fight,” he says.
“Yes – don’t go to bed mad,” Mariann Jeffrey says. “I don’t think you can go through life agreeing on everything. That would be boring.”
Mariann Jeffrey says they have had a good life, and it is great to have someone you can depend on.
“It’s wonderful to have someone you can fall on, and they can fall on you, when troubles come along,” she says. “You can’t go through life without things happening that you sure as the devil didn’t want to happen at all. I would wish everybody a happy marriage.”
Don Jeffrey says 75 years has gone by fast.
“It’s amazing,” he says.