Mike Wolanin | The Republic William and Marjorie Carte pose for photo at their home in Columbus, Ind., Friday, Feb. 10, 2023. William and Marjorie were married 70 years ago on Valentine’s Day.
A Columbus couple has reached a remarkable milestone in their lives, celebrating today on Valentine’s Day.
Howard Carte, 92, and Marjorie Carte, 90, are celebrating their 70th anniversary today. After a big celebration with family members on Saturday, the couple plan to spend their platinum anniversary alone together in their Ironwood Drive home.
“No, we don’t plan anything,” Howard said. “If we were able, we’d probably be in Florida.”
For the record, William Howard Carte and Marjorie Ann Cope exchanged marriage vows in the First Congregational Church of Steubenville, Ohio on Saturday, Feb. 14, 1953.
“We picked Valentine’s Day so we would never forget our anniversary,” Marjorie said.
While 1953 was a long time ago, both Howard and Marjorie have vivid memories of how they met.
Raised on a farm near the small town of Neffs, Ohio, Howard only made it through eighth grade before circumstances forced him to quit school to work full-time on the farm. But he was able to legally obtain a driver’s license at age 14 during that era in Ohio. That helped Howard earn more money by driving a truck for a dairy farm.
When Howard was 16, he told his mother he wanted to leave the farm and departed with her blessing. He rode a bicycle 33 miles north to Steubenville, Ohio, near the Pennsylvania state line.
Howard found work at the garage of a Buick dealership close to where young Marjorie Cope was living with her family. It wasn’t too long before Howard’s mother decided to sell the farm and move to Steubenville with her younger son, John, to reunite the family.
The Carte family obtained a house that was in the same block where Marjorie lived. Once established, Howard found himself dating his future wife’s best friend while his little brother, John, had his eyes on Marjorie.
But she wanted to make it clear to everyone that she was interested in Howard, rather than his little brother.
She managed to achieve that after joining Howard on a front porch as he was talking to some neighbors.
“I was there because I kind of liked the looks of him, and I was serious,” Marjorie recalled. “So I walked over to him, bent down and gave him a kiss on the cheek. I knew I shouldn’t have done that, so I jumped over a porch banister and ran home.”
One reason that Marjorie was pursuing Howard is because she wanted an older man, she said.
“I also had an automobile, and that always helps,” Howard said.
Soon, the two became a couple and their fondness for one another grew as both matured into young adults. But just as the 1950s were just beginning, Howard was drafted into the U.S. Army and sent to fight in the Korean War.
After graduating from high school, Marjorie performed secretarial work at National Steel while Howard served in the military.
When Howard returned to the U.S. and made the trip to Steubenville, his first stop was Marjorie’s house.
“We decided right then that we were going to get married on Feb. 14,” Howard said. “I had just come back from warfare and I was ready to settle down and raise a family.” He was discharged from the military as a corporal less than a week before the wedding.
Their original honeymoon plans were to stay for one week in Manhattan. While they were able to see the Rockettes perform at Radio City Music Hall, they left after three days to travel more than 400 additional miles to Niagara Falls.
The only problem was that the world-famous waterfall was frozen over, Howard said.
Howard was able to get his pre-war job back at the Buick dealership garage, but also supplemented the family income by buying wrecked cars, fixing them up and selling them.
There were ups and downs for the couple and their growing family. Family vacations became a favorite activity after Howard converted a damaged Ford Falcon van into a camper.
At first, the getaways were limited to short distances such as a six-hour ride to Wildwood, New Jersey. But as finances improved, the family purchased higher quality recreational vehicles, which led to destinations such as Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Over time, Florida became the family’s favorite vacation spot.
After 10 years of marriage, Howard opened his own business: Carte Auto Body. Their son, Sidney, went to work for his father when he became an adult, and the business stayed open for more than 40 years. Eventually, Howard would open a used car lot on an adjacent property.
While the “ups” were good, the “downs” were devastating. Their firstborn daughter, Marian, died when she was only 3-weeks-old.
There was also the closing of the steel mill and other businesses that severely damaged the economy in Stuebenville. The population shrank from about 36,000 when Howard and Marjorie were married to about 18,000 today, according to census reports.
Due to health problems, Sidney had to eventually leave the family business. He died at age 44 in September 2000.
Following Sidney’s death, there was nothing left for the couple in Stuebenville. They wanted to be close to their daughter, Susan, who married Al Roszczyk in 1981 and moved to Columbus.
Howard and Marjorie sold their holdings in Stuebenville and moved to their current home on Ironwood Drive.
“Columbus is a much better place to live than Stuebenville,” Howard said. “In a steel mill town, pollution is crazy. I’m always seeing the town grow all the time. We didn’t have that where we came from.”
The move allowed Howard and Marjorie to be close to their daughter and son-in-law, Susan and Al Roszczyk, as well as two adult grandchildren, Sara Cave and Erin Laswell. They also have 10 great-grandchildren to enjoy.
“Family means everything to us,” Susan Roszczyk said. “We think everyone needs family, and I feel we have a great one.”
As word spreads of the the couple’s 70th anniversary, it’s likely a number of people will ask how they are able to keep their marriage going strong for 70 years.
“It’s a two-way street,” Howard said. “You’ve got to give a little and take a little. You sit down and talk it all out, get it all worked out and go on, understanding that you are never going to be happier than you are together.”
“If he’s still the same person and you are still happy together, why would you want anybody else?” Marjorie asked. ” I still love him – and he’d better still love me, too.”
