Hobert and Pauline Dowell pause for a photo at their home in Whitehead. They say that their Christian faith has helped them stay together for more than 50 years.

Couple credits faith with making marriage last

"It was love at first sight," Hobert Dowell said of the day he met his wife Pauline.

That was in another February, back when Harry Truman was president. After more than half a century of marriage, with five children, five grandchildren and a great-grandson, Dowell said, "I truly loved the woman and still do, now more than ever."

The couple live in the Whitehead area. He is a Baptist pastor and formerly worked in aircraft electronics.

Although the Dowells met in Maryland, both have Alleghany County roots, and both were from large families. Pauline Dowell was one of 11 children born to Stella Caudill and George Brackins, who had a farm in the Pine Swamp area. Mrs. Brackins was born in a log house in Alleghany in 1897. The Brackinses left the county in 1919, and Pauline Dowell was born and raised in Bel Air, Md.

Mrs. Dowell's mother later returned to Alleghany, where she spent the last 10 years of her life.

Get the rest of this article in this week's issue of the Alleghany News! Back