ARCANUM – Gene and Nelda Morris spent their 58th wedding anniversary taking in the 2023 Greenville Federal Volleyball Invitational at Arcanum-Butler High School this past Saturday while Gene’s rich golden voice could be heard announcing the championship game starting lineups.
Nelda went to school at Northmont before moving to Gordon, OH six weeks into her junior year where she would go to Arcanum High School and meet Gene.
“I moved to Gordon and he was already there – I chased him until he caught me,” Nelda said with a chuckle.
“She moved up here and it just happened,” Gene stated. “We actually played football together. She had three brothers so we played football in the parks.”
Gene is a 1964 Arcanum graduate while Nelda is a graduate from the Arcanum class of 1965.
The couple was married, August 26, 1965 and are the parents of three sons; Scott, Doug and Mike.
When asked if the newlyweds had a dollar in the bank to start their newly married lives, Nelda smiled and said, “If we had that. We didn’t start out with a new house, a new car, new appliance, nothing.”
“There were some things given to us,” Gene said. “She had some money and bought the stove.”
“My grandpa and grandma saved some money for each of us kids and I got my money from them,” Nelda shared, “and I bought a gas range.”
The couple shared their thoughts on the longevity of their 58 years of successful marriage.
“Give and take,” Gene stated. “You’re going to have bumps and bruises and ups and downs but just have to hang with it.”
“You have to stick together,” Nelda added.
“I think we’re better now than we were younger,” Gene concluded. “We’ve gotten into church pretty heavy now and we really love our church family and we’ve kind of come to the conclusion – we’re blessed with family first of all, we’re blessed with three sons and grandkids and great-grandkids so that is just a true blessing.”
