A Celebration of Marriage

On June 7, 2009, the Archdiocese of Washington celebrated marriage at the annual Jubilarian Mass. More than 800 couples married 25 to 75 years from across the archdiocese were honored for their long marriages, totalling 36,000 years of marriage!

More than 550 couples renewed their vows at the Mass celebrated by Washington Auxiliary Bishop Martin D. Holley at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.

Read Bishop Holley's homily

Photos of the Jubilarian Mass courtesy of the Catholic Standard

Below are three couples who celebrated their long marriages at the Mass:

Calvert Leo and Helen Marie Sewell
Members of St. Peter Claver Parish, St. Inigoes, Maryland
Celebrating 59 years of marriage

Helen Marie Sewell, 76, was just 17 when she married Calvert Leo Sewell, 81, and says she has never had any regrets.

After 59 years of marriage, they are living their vow to stick together “in sickness and in health” because Helen had to have a kidney transplant needs dialysis twice a week. Calvert drives her and stays with her at every treatment. “He’d do anything for me,” she said.

They met at the movies in St. Inigoes when she was 16 and starting dating not long after.

They were married at St. Peter Claver Parish in St. Inigoes and have five children, 10 grandchildren and nine great grandchildren, who all live close by in St. Mary’s County.

They renewed their vows at St. Peter Claver after 50 years of marriage and she hopes they can do the same on their 60th anniversary next year.
So what do they say is key to their long and happy marriage? “To trust one another and communicate,” Helen said. “If we have a squabble, we never let it last more than a couple of hours.”

Robert and Debra Dicello
Members of St. Francis of Assisi Parish, Derwood, Maryland
Celebrating 25 years of marriage

The Dicello’s, from Gaithersburg, met through work in 1983 and married in 1984. They have four daughters - aged 19, 16, 14 and 12. Debra has been teaching religious education at the parish for more than 20 years, is a member of the parish council and volunteers for all the parish fundraising activities. Their faith is an important part of their marriage, Robert said.

 “We’ve always made the church an important part of our lives and become role models for other couples.”

Robert wasn’t looking for a wife when he met Debra but he always figured he would marry someone who was a good friend and would be good mother to his children. He found both in Debra.

So what would he tell his teenage daughters if one came to him and said she was getting married? “I’d ask her to think about why she wants to get married. I’d want her to feel like the person she’s marrying makes her a better person, that it’s more than just physical love,” he said.

Frank and Hilda McDougald
Members of St. Luke Parish, Washington, DC
Celebrating 65 years of marriage

It took Hilda McDougald, 89, several months to say “yes” to her husband Frank’s marriage proposal in 1944. “My girlfriend said he was a good one and I’d better take that chance,” Hilda recalls. Sixty-five years, three children, three grandchildren and three great grandchildren later, she says her friend was right.

The couple met at Fort Washington, where he was stationed with the Army. Frank, now 89, kept looking over at her, she recalls. “I told my friend ‘Look at that old man over there looking at me.’” She was surprised to learn he was two years younger than her! She was 24 and he was 22.

After a few dates, and some persuasion from her girlfriend (who ended up marrying a friend of Frank’s,) she agreed to marry him and they married six months after they met.

They have three children – a son, age 62; a daughter, age 58; and a daughter who died at age 41. They have three granddaughters and three great grandchildren.

“I tell young people getting married today, ‘There has to be give and take, but the wife has to take more’” she quipped. “And prayer is very important. Our faith has been very important to our marriage,” she said.

Read about Virginia and Tarquinio Parbuoni from La Plata, Maryland, who are celebrating 70 years of marriage this year. The couple was featured in the The Independent newspaper.