Samuel and Lorena Vincent moved to Alleghany some 12 years ago to be closer to their daughter, Sylvia Jackson. The Vincents, who have been married for 71 years, dated as teenagers at Greenville High School.'

Couple credit love for 71-year marriage

After 71 years of marriage, Samuel and Lorena Vincent look back on their many years together and offer the key to a long successful marriage can best be summed up in one word: love.

At the age of 17 or 18, young Lorena Sullivan Vincent went on a date, and taking one look at Samuel Vincent, she came to realization that she had found the one she wanted to spend the rest of her life with. "It was a blind date and I dated him from that night on," Sylvia remembers. "He was the one I wanted."

According to Samuel, it wasn't very long after their first date that he felt the same. The couple, who dated while they were students at Greenville High, married about two years later at the age of 21.

Years of Marriage

The couple wed in 1935, several years after the country had experienced the Great Depression and before the country entered into World War II.

Speaking of the times, Samuel said, "We never seen (a time)when we didn't have plenty to eat, thank the Lord for that. The Lord looked out for us."

Samuel first worked as a shoe salesman at a department store.

"When I first started, I believe (pay) was $12 a week," he remembers. "I got to $15." He said he spoke to the business owner and during the conversation, Samuel said he told him he could no longer work for $12 a week. After turning down weekly raise of $1, his employer increased the offer to $3 additional a week.

"Three dollars was a big raise then on top of $12," Samuel said. "Everything seemed like (it) went for me."

He later tried his luck as a traveling salesman. In times prior to Sears and Roebuck, Samuel took care of his wife and nephew they were caring for at the time by going door-to-door and selling household items.

He remembers an experience with the car they had the time, commenting, "My car quit in a swamp on the other side of Williamston, that was 30 miles from Greenville. I would push that car and get it to where it would turn over and the fuel pump quit on it. I snatched it in gear and I'd keep pushing and I had to jump in and I went 12 miles doing that."

Lorena explained, "It was a second-hand car. We couldn't make enough money then to buy a new car."

When the United States entered into World War II, both Samuel and Lorena saw brothers leave to serve the country. Samuel, however, stayed at home. "I started to go down to be examined and they said if you pass, they'd put you in the service and I just said, ‘I'll just be here when they call me.' I waited and decided it would be good if they called me."

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