October 1, 2010
Golden, special jubilarian couples will gather October 3
James and Clara Mae Vaal were married in 1960 at St. Ferdinand Church in Ferdinand. Click for a larger version.
By MARY ANN HUGHES (Message staff writer)
This isn’t the first time Jim and Clara Mae Vaal have attended the Golden Jubilee Celebration, but this Sunday they will be honored guests instead of visitors.
Years ago, they accompanied Jim’s parents, Robert and Mildred, to the celebration which has been held in the Diocese of Evansville since 1982.
Now, the Ferdinand couple — celebrating their golden wedding anniversary this month — will be recognized following the Mass at Good Shepherd Church in Evansville.
Clara Mae smiles at the memory of how they began dating. She was living with her family in Ferdinand, and Jim lived in nearby St. Meinrad. “I used to run around with his girlfriend when he was in college.” When the couple broke up, Jim’s brother told Clara Mae, “I hope you are satisfied.” She answered, “Why? I didn’t have anything to do with that.”
The next day, as Jim was heading back to college in Terre Haute, he stopped by Clara Mae’s house. He told her, “Now I don’t have anyone to write to.” She told him, “Well, you can write to me.”
More than half a century later, she recalls, “That’s how we did our courting.”
On Oct. 22, 1960, they were married at St. Ferdinand Church, and then began their family which grew to seven children — Deb, Cheryl, Bob, Gayle, Julie, Jay and Scott — and 12 grandchildren with one deceased, two step-grandchildren and five step-great-grandchildren.
Jim began work as a math and science teacher and coach, and Clara Mae was a stay-at-home mom until her youngest child was in kindergarten.
Her voice softens as she remembers the difficult times during the family rearing years, and then she remembers the happy times. “Wherever our children were, we were. We were band parents, and we followed along with them as best we could.”
As a couple, she says, they really didn’t change much over the years. “We just accepted things as they came along, and that hasn’t changed at all.”
They were both raised by devout Catholic parents. Of her family, she says, “I can’t ever remember my mom and dad missing Mass — ever. His mom and dad too.”
Faith, she says, “it was just a given.”
Today, they both belong to the adult choir at St. Ferdinand, where Jim is a Eucharistic minister. “I’m in the St. Ann Sodality, and he’s in the St. Joe Sodality.”
She says if she were asked to give advice to a young married couple, she would offer them one word: trust. “I never doubted him about anything. There was just trust that I had in him. What he said he was going to do — he did.”
She adds that a solid marriage is based on “loving each other, caring for each other.”
Emily Snipes is the Family Life/Diocesan Respect Life Coordinator with Catholic Charities. She says the Golden Jubilee Celebration is a “wonderful” way to recognize the love and loyalty of those couples married 50 years and longer “who have strived to remain united with each other in faith and matrimony.
“It is exciting to see the joy they radiate as they celebrate their continued blessings and share in the Mass with each other and their families.”
This year’s celebration will be held at 1 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 3, at Good Shepherd Church in Evansville. Bishop Gerald A. Gettelfinger will be the main celebrant at the Mass which will be followed by a reception.
Thirty-five golden jubilee couples are expected to attend, she said, and 231 couples married more than 50 years will also be in attendance.
“The diocesan Golden Jubilee Celebration originated in the Family Life Office in 1982 and has been sponsored by Catholic Charities since 1987,” she said.