Hi-Line Living - Happy Valentine's Day: 63 years and still together

After 63 years of being married, this year Roland and Peggy Joe Gould celebrated another Valentine's Day together.

Both born and raised in Havre, the couple first met while going to school together. Peggy Joe laughed, then said she didn't like her husband very much during high school, adding that he was kind of a troublemaker back then. But after high school, at the age of 19, they were married in August of 1955.

She said that they had a church wedding in the old Methodist Church before the current Van Orsdel United Methodist Church was built on the same lot. She added that they got married the same day as her parents 35th wedding anniversary.

Roland said when they were married, he was unsure what the future held for them, adding that then they didn't give it much thought.

A few years after getting married they had their first daughter, Joni Gould, who later married Bob Schubert, and then had a second daughter, Linda Gould, who later married Bruce Leeds. Bob and Joni Shubert have one daughter, Kaylee Schubert, who lives in Polson teaching choir at Polson High School.

Peggy Joe said that both of their daughters have been married for more than 30 years.

Roland and Peggy Joe said that, when they were younger, they did a bit of traveling, going on vacations every year, usually bringing their children with them.

"I think everyone should do that," Peggy Joe said.

Roland said he enjoyed the trip the two of them took to Florida a few years ago, adding that they had a great time together. He said when they were younger, and their children were younger, they all went to Disneyland in California.

Peggy Joe said that they went on many different camping trips when they were younger, all across Oregon, Canada and Montana. They both said one of their favorite places to go was Glacier National Park.

Roland said one year, when they were younger, they rode his motorcycle up there and saw a bear a little to up-close-and-personal. He said Peggy Joe was scared and wanted to get into someone elses car, because they were exposed on the motorcycle.

"I wasn't gonna let that bear get on my lap," Peggy Joe said.

She added that they don't go camping very much anymore, usually just take their camper up to the Bear Paw Mountains for a few days a year.

Peggy Joe said that she worked before and a little bit after they had their children, though, mostly part-time after the children were born. Roland said he was a carpenter until he was about 75 or 76 years old. He added that he built the house that they live in while their children were still pretty young.

He said he started building the house after he purchased the lot, letting his wife design it the way she wanted it, though, he added that he got to design the roof and a few other things. Roland said that they started building the house at the beginning of the year and finished just around Christmas and were able to celebrate the holidays in their new home.

Peggy Joe said they picked up a few rocks they found on the way while they were heading up to camp in Glacier.

Those rocks, Roland said, were used in the front wall of the house.

He said that when they first started living in the house he planted a few trees on the property - now the trees are fully grown.

One tree in the backyard started rotting years ago, though, he said, after a cold snap cracked the bark. He and his son-in-law Bruce Leeds starting chopping it down, he said, although when the tree was still approximately 10 feet high he told Leeds to stop cutting because he wanted to make a totem pole.

He said he contacted Jack Van Koten, a local sculptor and artist, and asked if he wanted to help him make the totem pole.

When Van Koten got there, Rolan said, they started making a bear and, after the bear was completed, an eagle.

Peggy Joe said they still have the clay model of the eagle that Van Koten made for them, keeping it in their freezer so it doesn't warp.

After 10 or 15 years, Roland said, the roots rotted out and they had to take down his totem pole. He added that one daughter got the bear and the other got the eagle.

Peggy Joe said that the church is very important to their family, adding that when their kids were younger she wanted them to be baptized. Although, she said, the church wouldn't baptize them until she and Roland were baptized themselves. She said her husband and she went through all the classes and ended up having the whole family baptized at the same time.

She said she is thankful everything has been good and she and her husband are good and healthy. She added they are lucky that they both are still here, with many of their friends over the years having their spouses dying.

She said she and her husband have been married for so long because they both did their jobs and lived out their oaths "for better or worse 'til death do you part."

Gould said one lesson from being married is that people have to learn when to give. He added that it is important that people know when to pick their battles and not be afraid of giving a situation a little time to breathe before returning to an argument.

For Valentine's Day, Peggy Joe said, they used to go out dancing at the Havre Eagles Club or go to the Black Angus when it was still open. She added that, in the past, they also liked to go to Andy's Supper Club, although this year they did not know where they will be going.

She said that, after so long, she and her husband are stuck together.

"Happily stuck together," Peggy Joe said.