<\/p>\n
More than 58 years ago, Martin Holman walked into a drug store in Cortez \u2014 an act that would change his life forever.<\/p>\n
Holman, who was 25 years old at the time, walked into Wilson\u2019s Drug Store for a drink at the soda fountain.<\/p>\n
Willa Dean Holman, who was 16 years old at the time, was working there. She watched Martin walk out after he was finished and told her friends something that the couple still joke about today.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had never seen him before, and I said \u2018That\u2019s the man I am going to marry,\u2019\u201d Willa Dean said.<\/p>\n
It turns out Willa Dean was right, and the two were married about a year later. They\u2019ve been married 58 years.<\/p>\n
Martin, now 83, and Willa Dean, now 74, have seen many changes over the years.<\/p>\n
They watched Wilson\u2019s Drug Store turn into many things \u2013 today, it\u2019s a restaurant \u2013 and they raised two daughters and have three grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.<\/p>\n
\u201cI liked to hang out at the soda fountain. It beat hanging out at the bars,\u201d Martin said.<\/p>\n
Martin continued to work in the oil fields, and Willa Dean worked as a secretary and librarian at Downey School for more than 30 years.<\/p>\n
On Valentine\u2019s Day this year, the couple will likely celebrate quietly at the assisted-living home where they live, but they say the secret to a long relationship is simple.<\/p>\n
\u201cCompromise and respect each other,\u201d Willa Dean said.<\/p>\n
Martin agreed, \u201cYes dear,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Martin said he also would never fight with his wife.<\/p>\n
The two said in 58 years of marriage, they never had a fight.<\/p>\n
Willa Dean said it never hurt that Martin would buy her jewelry.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen he used to get around, he would give me turquoise jewelry,\u201d Willa Dean said.<\/p>\n
Martin has been in a wheelchair for a little over two years.<\/p>\n
Martin had other advice for those newly married.<\/p>\n
\u201cTry not to expect more of each other than you ought to,\u201d he said. \u201cI think people try to change each other.\u201d<\/p>\n
Willa Dean said having similar hobbies also helps.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe both like to garden,\u201d Willa Dean said.<\/p>\n
When asked what her favorite Valentine\u2019s Day present was, it was an easy one for Willa Dean: turquoise jewelry.<\/p>\n
What was the worst present?<\/p>\n
\u201cHe got me a salad maker once,\u201d Willa Dean said, laughing.<\/p>\n
\u201cReally? I don\u2019t remember that,\u201d Martin said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWell I do,\u201d Willa Dean said. \u201cThose things are nice, but not so romantic.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another piece of advice? Willa Dean said: \u201cNever go to bed angry with each other,\u201d Willa Dean said.<\/p>\n
They married when a gallon of milk cost 97 cents, a gallon of gas cost 23 cents, and a new car cost $2,100. On the top of the song charts was \u201cDon\u2019t Be Cruel\u201d by Elvis and \u201cHeartbreak Hotel,\u201d also by Elvis.<\/p>\n
When asked if they had a favorite song, the couple stopped and thought for a long time.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think we had a favorite song. But we both like county western,\u201d Willa Dean said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Holmans recall a lifetime of romance since that first day at the soda fountain<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":114604,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5843],"tags":[13],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-114603","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-living","tag-frontpage-lead"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114603","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=114603"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114603\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/114604"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=114603"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=114603"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=114603"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=114603"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}