A love story 75 plus years in the making

ROWAN COUNTY — For most folks, July 3 was prep day for the 4th, but for one Rowan County couple, the day was far more special.

Donald, 94, and Geraldine Holshouser, 92, celebrated their 75th wedding anniversary that day.

Later in the week, to commemorate the occasion, family and friends organized a reception in the fellowship hall at Emmanuel Baptist Church on Bringle Ferry Road.

Mark Yountz of the Gideons International of the Salisbury East Camp presented the couple with a Lifetime Membership Award for their dedication and service to the Gideons.

The reception was attended by approximately 85 family and friends, including their two surviving children, Joyce Benton and Michael Holshouser; six grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren.

So how did their love story begin?

Donald first laid eyes on Geraldine at a school in Rockwell.

“I saw this red-headed girl walk across the front yard,” Gerald said. “I asked my best friend, ‘Do you know that girl there?’ He said that his girlfriend knows her, and they are probably in the same class.”

There was just one problem: a friend told Donald that he was interested in Geraldine and that Donald could not ask her out. Ripe with teenage vigor, Donald and that friend settled on a wager.

At that time, there was an old steel bridge over the lake near where Donald lived. So, the two teens challenged each other to jump from the bridge into the water below. Unbeknownst to the friend, Donald’s dive off the bridge would not be his first.

“We would draw a crowd up here on Sunday afternoon,” Donald said. “We would put on a show jumping off the bridge. Probably 30-40 feet jumping in from the top.”

Donald mentioned that their recklessness became a fixture in the local preacher’s sermons, although the clergyman never revealed the names of the daredevils.

Not wanting to reveal his hand, Donald played it cool.

“I pretended it was scary for me,” Donald said. “I said, ‘Why don’t you go first?'”

The friend relinquished the right to first dibs, so Donald did what any lovestruck teenager would do.

“I climbed up all the way to the top and jumped in,” he said.

Donald and Geraldine’s first date was at a carnival in Spencer. While Donald’s death-defying stunts over water might have painted the image of a man with few things to fear, he was not looking forward to the rides at the carnival. That simply would not do, though, as Geraldine wanted to ride them.

“She wanted to ride everything,” Donald said. “I was determined I would not ride the one that went up every which way, but she wanted to ride it, so I rode it with her. That was the first time and last time I ever rode it.”

Not long afterward, Donald and Geraldine were married. Donald was a little nervous asking for Geraldine Sides’ hand. She was the daughter of a Marine, after all.

Although it was the ’40s, 19 and 17 were still pretty young ages to be getting married. Nonetheless, they were married on July 3, 1949, at St. Matthews Lutheran Church by David Johnson.

Donald didn’t graduate from high school, but he went to work on the railroad. He built the house where they would raise their family in 1951. He’d get off work at 3:30 p.m. and then work on the house till 11 p.m.

“She’d bring me dinner all spring and summer that year,” Donald said.

The couple’s oldest daughter, Debbie, was born that year. They welcomed their second daughter, Joyce, two years later and a son, Mike, in 1964. The family continued to grow over the years as the children married and had kids of their own.

Joyce had a son, Samuel. Debbie had twin girls, Emily and Lauren, a year later. Mike and his wife Sheila had three boys: Justin, Matthew and Wesley. Now, Donald and Geraldine are blessed with great-grandchildren as well.

Samuel had a boy, Samuel IV, and a girl, Miya. Emily had twins herself, boys Leo and Thad. Leo was named after Donald.

Throughout the years, both Donald and Geraldine held a number of jobs. Donald worked at Southern Railway, Thomas Howard and John Deere and he is the founder of Holshouser Incorporated. Geraldine worked at PPG, Walker Mobile Homes and General Electric.

Despite their busy schedules, the couple said they took a vacation every year, whether it was to Morrow Mountain or Kure Beach.

Donald was active in Scouts for seven decades and was recently recognized for that service. Geraldine laughed and called herself a Scout widow for the amount of time that Donald was away from home on official Scout business.

Through the years, the couple’s love grew, but it took work, like tending a garden.

“We just loved each other,” Donald said. “We found out marriage was twofold. It’s not one person. You had to work together. We worked together.”

The couple credits their faith for the longevity of their relationship, and they still read their Bibles every day. Donald actually taught Sunday school for 65 years. On Friday, he rattled off some of his personal favorite verses.

Mike and Sheila were there on Friday, too.

“When I grew up, there was one condition,” Mike said. “If you lived in this house, you went to church on Sunday. Now, I see that it was a good thing. What they did back then reflects on my life now.”

Mike and Sheila have been married for 37 years and point to Donald and Geraldine for serving as such powerful role models.

Sheila confirmed the elder couple’s strict Biblical routine.

“Since I have been around since they retired, and when they are both here together, you can come over, and they are sitting there studying the Bible, and then they would pray together,” she said. “That was an everyday thing for them.”

Having grown up during the Great Depression, the couple knows that its not material things that hold a family together. Rather, its the intangibles, like love, kindness and patience that do. Given the results, its hard to deny their formula.

Most folks can only imagine being with the same person that long, but at this point in their lives, Geraldine and Donald can’t imagine being with anyone else.

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