After 70 Years Of Marriage, One Vermont Couple Weathers COVID-19 Apart

Marion Austin used to visit her husband John Austin every day at The Pines in Rutland. Now, the couple of nearly 70 years keeps in touch via FaceTime. (Nina Keck/VPR)

With elderly populations especially vulnerable to the COVID-19 virus, nursing homes and assisted living centers in Vermont have drastically limited access for visitors. For the Austins, a couple that began dating just after World War II, it’s the first time they’ve been apart.

“He was 20 and I was 16 when we met in church,” said Marion Austin, who sat on the couch in her Rutland living room last Friday and looked through old photo albums. “We were sitting in the balcony… and we kind of chatted up during the service, and then afterwards went out for a soda. It was probably six or eight months later that he asked me to go steady.”

Marion is petite and lively, with short white hair and bright blue eyes. As she showed a photo from her and John’s wedding, she said, “That was who he was around the time when I met him: Johnny Austin. He was so handsome.”

The two were married when Marion was 19 and John was 23, on Oct. 7, 1950. This year, in October, will mark their 70th wedding anniversary.

Read the rest of this story at VPR’s website.