Luther and Rosalie Combs Marlow recently celebrated 60 years of marriage.
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Built to Last
Couple celebrates 60-year marriage
By LAURA THORNBURG
Staff
Sixty years ago this past September, Sparta residents Luther and Rosalie Combs Marlow said their vows and continue to maintain a strong relationship through love, trust in God and in each other.
The couple met when Rosalie was 16 and Luther, who had just gotten out of the Army in 1945, was 21. Her best friend was dating Luther's older brother at the time.
Luther recalled, "I was living in Winston-Salem at the time. My brother, three years older than I was, he was already home and he had come to Sparta working for the state. He met a man in Sparta, they'd pitch horseshoes together and he got acquainted with his daughter." With a smile, Rosalie pointed out the girl was her best friend, Bertha Sturgill.
Luther continued, "He got to dating her and he told me one day he wanted me to come over to Sparta with him and that there were pretty girls over there."
When asked about their initial meeting, Rosalie stated there was an instant connection, as though they were destined to be together.
"She was the prettiest girl I'd ever seen," he said with a sheepish smile. "He was one of the most handsome men I'd ever seen," she added of her husband.
After about a year of courting, 17-year-old Rosalie and 22-year-old Luther wed in Greensboro.
"We had to wait a day to get married," Luther said of their initial Sept. 24, 1948 wedding date.
Rosalie explained, "I was underage and I had to get consent from my father to get married. He was working in West Virginia at the time."
Luther added, "We had to get him to send a telegram and he had to send one back telling how old she was so that we could get married."
The following day, the couple wed in Greensboro and lived in Winston-Salem until Rosalie got so homesick the duo came to Alleghany.
Upon the Marlow's return to the county, they rented a little place on Whitehead Street while Luther built a family home a short distance away.
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