Couple’s 71st anniversary perhaps the most special

MARS HILL, Maine — Seventy-five years ago, 16-year-old Delbert McCrum asked Wilda Chase, one year his senior, on a picnic date on Mars Hill Mountain. The high school sweethearts, who have been a couple ever since, celebrated their 71st wedding anniversary yesterday.
While this may not be the “milestone” that last year was when they reached the seven-decade mark, for the McCrums this anniversary means more than any that has come before. That’s because this year’s celebration is also a reunion of sorts for the couple.
A year-and-a-half ago, Wilda, to ensure she received the level of care she required, moved from the couple’s apartment at Leisure Village in Presque Isle to the Aroostook Health Center in Mars Hill. It was the first time in their married life the couple had lived apart, and made for a bittersweet 70th anniversary celebration.
A week before marking 71 years of wedded bliss, the couple was given the best gift possible — each other — when Delbert moved in to AHC, reuniting with Wilda.
“We wanted to be together, and we are so happy! It’s our anniversary gift this year,” said Wilda. “We are very fortunate to have one another. Although we’d get to visit each other over the past year-and-a-half — it just wasn’t the same. I would pray each day that he’d come join me here at AHC. It is such a nice place. It’s more like a resort than a nursing home.”
The joyful reunion and love shared between the McCrums inspired the staff at AHC, a TAMC facility, to make the already memorable anniversary even more special. A celebration, complete with an anniversary party, cake and limousine ride to visit places in the community that hold significance to their life together, was held June 24.
“It has been so inspiring for all of us to watch Delbert and Wilda reunite,” said Kelly Lundeen, AHC administrator. “All of our residents mean the world to us. This is a special time for this lovely couple, and we wanted to celebrate with them.”
For the McCrums, the reunion and anniversary inspired their recollection of a lifetime of memories. Sounds of laughter can be heard from their room as they share stories of their two decades of extensive travel across North America in a motorhome after the kids were grown and Delbert retired.
“We visited 49 states, all of the Canadian provinces and territories, and even took the motor coach to Mexico,” said Delbert. “We both loved to travel and had some great experiences.”
The memories of their early time together are just as vivid as their more recent travels. In fact, it was the first trip they took together — that first date up Mars Hill Mountain — that is perhaps the most memorable.
“He had actually asked another girl to go on the double date with him,” said Wilda. “So when he came to ask me, I decided I would play hard to get. I told him, ‘I don’t play second fiddle’ and that I’d let him know whether I would go with him or not after school to make him wait.”
“I told her, ‘So don’t play second fiddle, play first fiddle and join me,’ so she did, and I knew then she was the one,” said Delbert.
The McCrums also remember the only other time they were apart for an extended period. It was after Delbert graduated from high school and left Mars Hill to attend the University of Maine in Orono to study agriculture in the early 1940s.
With Delbert away and the WW II waging overseas, Wilda didn’t sit still. She left The County for New Haven, Conn. where she became a “Rosie the Riveter” making spark plugs for military equipment and doing her part to support the troops overseas.
A year-and-a-half into his studies, Delbert was called home to Mars Hill. He was needed on the family farm as his brother had been called to serve his country. Delbert himself was also called, but a medical issue prevented him from serving. So began his career in farming, which spanned more than four decades of planting anywhere from 50 to 150 acres of mostly potatoes annually.
“As soon as he came home, I wanted to come home,” said Wilda. “So I got a job at the Presque Isle Army Airfield working for the coordinating unit ordering parts for planes, mostly B-17s that flew in to be repaired.”
It wasn’t long thereafter that Delbert asked Wilda for her hand in marriage. The couple was married June 24, 1943, at the Westfield Corner Church.
“From there we were driven to Houlton to spend the night at a hotel before boarding the train for our honeymoon in Bangor. It was during the war and gas was being rationed, so we needed to take the train,” recalled Delbert.
The couple returned to the family farm in Mars Hill, raising numerous crops of potatoes and five children — Delbert Jr. (known as Keith), Deborah, Rodney, Ruth and Jeannette.
“Our kids gave us a lot of memories and made us laugh,” said Wilda, who is now writing a journal chronicling her family’s experiences. “So many wonderful times are being written about on the pages of the journal, and I’m including photos, as well.”
The stories include everything from Christmases spent together — always having the five children gathered, and later many of their now 10 grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren, to the five or so years the family added an egg farm to the grounds of the homestead by bringing in no less than 4,000 hens.
“Delbert bought them (the hens) thinking it would give the kids something to do. They had to gather the eggs. We would sell them to Maine Potato Growers. They certainly made a lot of noise in the morning. That was one way to make sure teenagers didn’t sleep in,” said Wilda.
Many friends, family and others have asked what is the secret to their longevity as a couple and how they seem to be as in love today as they were 71 years ago.
“I tell people that it is quite simple how it works,” said Delbert with a smirk on his face. “Just do what she says. When she says ‘jump,’ you say ‘how high.’ I also tell her I love her and give her a kiss.  We’re just part of one another.”
Wilda’s initial answer was just as direct.
“When you see a good man — you marry him,” she said. But she is quick to add, “We respect one another. I think that is one of the keys to a good marriage. That, and the fact that we genuinely enjoy one another’s company and many of the same things. And yes, we still feel the spark after all these years.”
The June 24 anniversary celebration/adventure began with a chauffeured limousine ride for the McCrums where they traveled to the base of Mars Hill Mountain, the site of the former Corner Church where they were married, and their former homestead where they raised their family. Upon their return to AHC, they were greeted by family, friends and fellow residents gathered for a special anniversary party in their honor.