72 years and counting for Florida couple

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ST. AUGUSTINE, FL — They’ve given each other paper, wood, and tin. That started before World War II.

Paper being the traditional gift for married couples celebrating their first anniversary. Wood is for year 5, and tin for ten.

Mr. and Mrs. Albert C. Peterson have long since seen the tin gift. Silver, too. Gold? Been there, done that.

Those gifts only cover up to the first 50 years of marriage.

It starts getting a bit more recent when we talk about diamonds. That’s the gift for number 60. That happened way back in the 1990s.

It gets interesting here for the Petersons, who are celebrating their 72nd anniversary today.

They were married in 1937 and have been together ever since. He’s 96, and his bride is only 91.

Their daughter Carolyn says he spent 42 years working in insurance, and she was a teacher for 28 years.

Their legacy includes three daughters, five grandchildren and ten great-grandchildren.
Carolyn says they still go to Church every Sunday, and still like dining out after a day of working in the yard.

And they get a break on the traditional gifts this year. For some reason, the traditionalists don’t have gifts for anniversaries 72, 73 or 74. But when Mr. Peterson is 99 and that 75th anniversary rolls around…better get her another diamond.

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