Griffiths still going strong after 61 years of marriage There are lots of ideas out there as to what goes into creating \u2014 and sustaining \u2014 a long-term love relationship.
\nFor Margaret and Don Griffith of Point Loma, who have been married since 1952, the key to their enduring relationship isn\u2019t any secret.
\n“We\u2019re good friends,” said Margaret.\u00a0“You have to like each other.”
\nDon mirrored the sentiment, saying being untrue to one another “is just one of those things that was just never going to happen.”
\n“Honesty has played a big part,” Don said.
\nThere has, however, always been a clear division of labor within their relationship.
\n“She takes care of the social aspects of life \u2014 the scheduling, all that sort of thing,” said Don.
\nMargaret replied: “He fixes everything.”
\nThe pair retired in 1995 to a fixer-upper home in Point Loma. Don, a handyman, has polished the residence like a jewel, and said they love living near Sunset Cliffs.
\nValentine\u2019s Day this week was “just another day” for the Griffiths, neither of whom puts much stock in “special occasions.” They prefer just to enjoy one another\u2019s company each and every day.
\nIt wasn\u2019t love at first sight, according to the Griffiths. The pair met on a blind date as college students in Iowa back in the late 1940s.
\n“She was in nursing and I was in engineering,” said Don, adding both occupations are virtually inherited traits passed down respectively from one generation to the next in their family lines.
\nMargaret and Don were from different backgrounds. She was from a small town. He was a city boy.
\nLike all long-term relationships, the Griffith\u2019s love has stood the test of time, overcoming accidents, illness \u2014 even an earthquake.
\nThe first incident was an auto accident the pair got into while still in college, when Don spun out on a gravel road and Jill was thrown from the vehicle.
\n“I was in a body cast for three months,” she said. “We celebrated our first wedding anniversary in the hospital, where my mother was taking care of me.”
\nIn 1963, Margaret, who had had three children by then, was diagnosed with lupus, an autoimmune disease where the body\u2019s immune system attacks normal healthy tissue that causes swelling and organ damage.
\nHaving lived with the effects of the condition the rest of her life, Don said he\u2019s done everything possible since to keep Margaret\u2019s lifestyle “stress free.”
\nDon said Margaret\u2019s survical of a condition like that “makes you appreciative of life \u2026 [and] there\u2019s some benefits of tragedy.”
\nThe pair also survived the big Northridge earthquake in the Los Angeles area in 1993.
\n“That was a pretty big one. You\u2019re shaking pretty good,” said Don.
\nHe said the quake put his “water heater through the wall” and “finished off my chimney.”
\nThe first thing he did was check that their gas and water lines were shut off, as well as those of his neighbors.
\nDon said their pastor opened up the Sunday School to quake refugees.
\n“We were without electricity and water for five days,” said Margaret. “It was a war zone.”
\nBy comparison, the Griffiths these days live mostly in a “peace zone.”
\nDon and Margaret are very active at Point Loma Community Presbyterian Church. Don is in charge of facilities and associated with a group of volunteers known as “Men At Work” at the Presbyterian Urban Ministries downtown.
\n“It\u2019s a hand up for the homeless, where we fix things and haul furniture,” Don said.
\nMargaret is involved with a church group that organizes memorial services.
\nThe Griffiths walk along the beach near their home every night. Don is busy with his grandson, working to restore a 1947 Jeep he has sitting out back of his home.
\n“We\u2019re very blessed that we\u2019re both still here,” said Margaret.
\nShe said a lot of women she knows at church would “love to have been married for 61 years.”
\nDon agreed, saying men with their generally shorter life spans tend to be sought after by the ladies after a certain point.
\nHe told of a man he knew in his 90s who finally broke down after his wife died and went to live in “one of those care places.”
\n“He said the ladies always saw to it he sat at their table and always came afterward to visit him in his room. He said, \u2018You know, you\u2019ve almost got to lock your door at night.\u2019 ”
\nDon doesn\u2019t have to worry about that. Not while he\u2019s\u00a0got Margaret, anyway.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Griffiths still going strong after 61 years of marriage There are lots of ideas out there as to what goes into creating \u2014 and sustaining \u2014 a long-term love relationship. For Margaret and Don Griffith of Point Loma, who have been married since 1952, the key to their enduring relationship isn\u2019t any secret. “We\u2019re good […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":268395,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11561","_seopress_titles_title":"Friendship, honesty forge forever bond","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11551,11561],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-268394","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-peninsula-beacon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268394","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=268394"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268394\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/268395"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=268394"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=268394"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=268394"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}