Couple celebrating 70 years has no plans to stop
Levi Hill/News-Sun
In a world where celebrity marriages don’t last much longer than an ice cream cone on a hot day, seeing a couple go the distance of 70 years is almost unimaginable.
But come Saturday, Oct. 7, that’s just how many years John and Addie “Peepsie” Lankford have been partners through all the thick and thin together.
When you tell them you don’t know how they’ve managed it, John says he doesn’t either.
“I got started and never could find a quitting place,” he said with a grin. “The nay-sayers said it wouldn’t last because we didn’t know each other well enough. We are still waiting to see if it is going to last or not.”
The secret to the pair’s longevity may just be that they are so much alike. They fit together like pieces of a puzzle.
“They are a unique couple,” said their oldest child, Nancy Boerio. “They spent their off time and working time together. They make a good team. That doesn’t work for everyone, but it sure works for them.”
The pair even started their marriage working at the same store and later went on to own Peepsie’s Paint Pantry in Hobbs for 35 years.
The pair became so entangled with each other their handwriting is almost indistinguishable, Boerio said.
“I used to have to ask her if I wrote down a note at the shop or if she did,” John said.
It was the spring of 1953 when the couple met while traveling with mutual friends to a youth rally in Eunice.
“I don’t know if it was love at first sight but I was pretty taken with her and she was crazy about me,” John said, flashing his patented grin, with Peepsie throwing a grin back and quipping: “Now he wishes they would lock me up.”
Teens today complain there isn’t anything to do in Hobbs, but they might be surprised to know the common past-times haven’t changed much.
“We would drive up and down Broadway until I ran out of gas and then we had to park at her house until it was time for me to go home,” John said of their early dates after meeting.
The pair didn’t date long. They met in May and married in October. Asked why she really married John, Peepsie says it just made sense.
“He was there and I was there, so why not,” she said.
But that doesn’t mean it was easy. Even though it was tough times and both the couple’s parents were looking to get them out from under foot, Peepsie’s mom wasn’t too fond of John.
“Her mother didn’t like me at all,” John said.
“I was her baby,” adds Peepsie, the youngest of seven children.
The couple spent their honeymoon in Ruidoso.
It’s not common for couples today to make it so far and perhaps there is a reason for that — the struggle isn’t there like it used to be.
“The biggest problem is these young people marry and think they will just back out and start over if it doesn’t work, so they always have their eye out on the pasture,” John said.
“That was not an option for us,” Peepsie adds. “Neither of our parents were able to support us if we had to move back home. We had to make it on our own.”
That struggle made the couple close by giving them a common goal to work toward — survival.
“We just figured out a way to make the ends meet,” Peepsie said. “We didn’t do a lot of eating out. Sometimes, if we had a little money, he would take me for a 35-cent corndog.”
“I was working for $300 a month,” John said. “When I got paid, we paid our bills and things, and afterwards it was slim. We might eat out of canned goods for the next two weeks.”
“Bologna and wieners were our staple, but we never went hungry,” Peepsie said.
The couple’s first home was a 27-foot house trailer with no bathroom. Eventually they saved enough to sell it and used the savings to upgrade to a 30-foot trailer that included a tiny bathroom. The toilet and shower were all in one space.
When the couple bought the home they still live in emotions were high.
“I cried for a week when we signed that 30-year mortgage,” Peepsie said. “Being in debt 30 years!”
Although they both use walkers now to help them around John, 89, still chases Peepsie, 88, around the house, but one thing has changed.
“I can’t remember why I’m chasing her anymore,” he said.
There might be a few years of chasing left for the pair; Peepsie’s mother lived to the ripe old age of 103.
“I don’t have any plans on leaving any time soon,” Peepsie said.
“We made a pact right after we were married, if one of us left, we had to take the other with us,” John said. “Why leave? I have to take her with me.”
