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Letter to the editor

Five Questions: Helen and "Bud" Smock

By JARED LEONE
Published July 10, 2007

Helen and Clinton "Bud" Smock celebrated their 70th anniversary in May. Their seventieth. We don't see many of those.

They met at a restaurant in Wilmington, Ill. Helen was waiting tables on the night shift. He was working in the strip mines. Today, Helen, 90, and Bud, 93, live in the Palm Hill mobile home community in Largo.

What was your first date like?

Helen: "I sat on his hat. He was such a nice gentleman he came over and opened the door to his car, and I slide over and sat on his hat."

How did you know it was right?

Helen: "He put a night crawler down the back of the neck of the shirt I was wearing. I was so mad at him. I got even, I married him."

Bud: "Shortly after we started dating, in my mind, I figured she was going to be a steady customer."

Helen: "A customer? For what? More worms down my back?"

What is your secret for making it to 70 years?

Helen: "Don't you have to when you have kids? Raising the kids, it kept us busy. In those days we did not have anything, no one did. It's just different these days. I am glad I am not raising kids today."

Bud: "It was ups and downs, especially in the mines. But you stay positive. We were always involved with the kids until they flew the nest."

Any advice for young people thinking of marriage or to newlyweds?

Helen: "We never go to bed mad at each other. (He) always gave me nice kisses before we went to bed. We never thought of divorce, no matter what happened."

Bud: "The young couples, usually when they get a snag in the road, they give up."

What is an appropriate gift for a 70th wedding anniversary?

Bud: "I got her a special card. See it standing behind you."

A glass plaque stood on the end table with two white doves painted on it and the words, "Bud & Helen May 22, 1937 to 2007."

Helen: "I didn't expect that."

[Last modified July 10, 2007, 07:26:54]