Couple shares their secret to 70 years of marriage

MACON, Ga. (WGXA) – The goal of every marriage is to live a long, successful and happy life together.

A couple in Georgia seems to have cracked the code as they celebrate 70 years together.

Oliver Pitts and his wife Violet Jarell Pitts have been married since 1953. They’ve been together for 70 years through sickness and health, for richer and for poorer.

The Pitts met each other through friends and family and dated for four years before tying the knot.

“At first I really didn’t like him. But I’ve come to love him,” Violet Jarell Pitts said.

Oliver Pitts worked outside the home, while Violet Jarell Pitts was the housewife.

“I used to give her my check. She would cash it and pay the bills so I didn’t have to do that. I was a plumber,” Oliver Pitts said.

Through the years, they filled their home with five generations of Pitts, learning along the way about the ups and downs of a marriage.

Violet Jarell Pitts said the key to a successful marriage is forgiving and forgetting.

“You’re going to get mad sometimes but let it go,” she said. “You may not speak in a few days but still stay there. Stay right there.”

More than seven decades later, Violet Jarell Pitts said she did leave her husband once.

“I went back to my mama’s house, so he came back and got me,” she said.

It didn’t even take Oliver Pitts long to come to his senses. He said he tried to cook some bread without her, and the food turned out so bad even the dog wouldn’t eat it.

“I said, ‘Oh no, I got to go get my wife,’” Oliver Pitts said.

Even though they have been together longer than they can count on their fingers and toes, the Pitts are still a happy couple very much in love.

“I was glad that we were able to stay together,” Oliver Pitts said.

Copyright 2023 WGXA via CNN Newsource. All rights reserved.