70 happy anniversaries for the Eden Prairie couple that has ‘Everything’

Other than longevity, what makes a marriage last 70 years?

“Love your mate more than yourself,” says groom Jerry McCarty. “Respect each other,” his bride Cecelia (Cece) advises, adding, “Give each other a little room to do other things.”

Love, respect and a lot of fun seem to be the themes in the Eden Prairie couple’s long-running marriage. Their relationship started in January 1954, when one of Cece’s friends invited her to a roller skating party that the friend, a co-worker of Jerry’s, knew he planned to attend. “I didn’t want to go, because I didn’t know how to rollerskate,” Cece says. “But Jerry held me up all night long.”

Jerry called the next week to ask Cece out for a date on a Thursday night. “I couldn’t go, because I used to go to church every Thursday,” she explains.

Undeterred, Jerry found Cece was available almost any other night of the week, and the two soon started seeing each other almost daily. The relationship progressed quickly. In February, Jerry surprised Cece by giving her a beautiful red suit as a present. “That’s a heck of a gift for a guy to give a girl,” Cece’s father noted.

Cece’s father was not an easy man to win over, especially since Cece was the youngest of his six children. “On our first date, I was waiting for Cece in the living room,” Jerry remembers. “Her father was reading the newspaper. He lowered the newspaper a bit, looked over the top and asked, ‘Are you Catholic?’ I said ‘Yes.’ He went back to reading, but a few minutes later, he lowered the paper again and asked, ‘Are you Irish?’ And I said, ‘Yes.’ And he went back to reading. A few minutes later, he put down the paper and asked, ‘Are you a Democrat?’ And when I said ‘Yes,’ he seemed satisfied.”

By May, they were engaged. After dinner at the Old Green Gables restaurant in Sioux City, Iowa, where they were living at the time, Jerry took Cece for a ride in his beloved 1950 Studebaker and proposed, presenting her with a diamond ring. The couple married a year later, on April 16, 1955.

Although Cece’s father was a bit of a tough nut to crack, Cece had no problem warming up Jerry’s parents. “She was always a favorite of my parents,” Jerry says. “Cece and my mother shared the same birthday, and they always celebrated it together.”

Their wedding took place “at a little French church in Sioux City,” Cece notes. “St. Jean the Baptist.” She laughs. “We outlasted the church – they tore it down years ago!”

The couple had their wedding breakfast in the same restaurant where they had their first date. For their honeymoon, they rented a cabin at a resort in Isabella, Missouri, a small fishing community.

“I think Jerry got a rude awakening that first morning,” Cece said with a laugh. “I made breakfast, and I wanted to make perfect eggs. So I kept cracking them, one after another, and dumping the ones with any red spots in a bowl until I found perfect ones.”

“I couldn’t figure out why she was wasting so many,” Jerry adds with a smile. “But I didn’t say anything.”

On the road trip home, the newlyweds picked up a sailor who was hitchhiking. “He got in the car wearing his dress blues,” Cece recalls. “He threw his duffel bag in the back seat. As the ride was ending, he started digging in the bag because he wanted to give Jerry a gift for giving him the ride. He found a lighter with a naked woman on it – so that was our gift,” she says, laughing.

Once they were home, Jerry embarked on a successful career with Dyna Technology, a company that manufactured generators. “My first job paid 97 cents an hour,” he notes. “Loading boxcars. I went from being an expediter to being an engineer. I took two years of college as an engineer. Eventually, I got to be VP of marketing.”

The company moved from Sioux City to Le Center, Minnesota, in 1977. Jerry’s office was in Bloomington, but he and Cece chose to live in Eden Prairie because it was “beautiful and growing,” daughter Susan Smith notes. Jerry eventually left the company and started his own business, Lake Sales, selling a similar product. The new business became successful, allowing Jerry to sell it and retire at age 57. “Retire as young as you can,” he says with a satisfied smile. “And enjoy it as long as you can.”

Jerry and Cece still live in their Eden Prairie home. The couple has five children, four of whom live nearby. Son Tom and his wife, Katie, live in New Hope. Daughter Patty and her husband, Rich Grossen, live in Forest Lake. Daughter Connie McCarty Robinson lives in Waconia. Son Joe and his wife, Beth, live in Saint Bonifacius.

Daughter Susan and her husband, Matt Smith, live in Omaha, Nebraska, but drive up frequently to see Jerry and Cece.

The couple has 14 grandchildren and six great-grandchildren, with a seventh great-grandchild due in August. “The grandkids and great grandkids love seeing Mom and Dad,” Susan Smith says.

“I don’t know what we’d do without family,” Cece says. “All these children and grandchildren … the blessings are endless.”

The blessings go both ways. The family shared a photo of a large fireplace mantel, covered with colorful Christmas stockings. “My Nana made the five of us kids our stockings,” Susan recalls. “As we got married, Mom made a simple one for each of our spouses. As the grandkids came, she started making felt stockings with sequins for each of them – the stockings were absolutely amazing. She made one for each of the 14 grandchildren, and continued the tradition for the great-grandchildren until she couldn’t do it anymore. Every year, the kids can hardly wait to get the stockings out, and they leave them up after Christmas to enjoy.”

“Most of us (kids) call every day,” Susan says. “When you ask Dad how he is, he always says ‘Terrific!’ I hope when I’m in my 90s, I can be as content as he is.”

When asked what she’s learned from her parents’ long and happy marriage, daughter Patty Grossen says, “Have fun together.” She adds, “When we grew up in Sioux City, we lived in a great big old house with an attic. Everyone hung out at our house. They always loved coming there.”

Family and fun are recurring themes in the McCarty story. “We took a lot of fun trips together,” Cece says. “Family vacations are so important. As the families got bigger, we’d rent six cabins in a row.”

“We had lots of times when we all had fun together,” Patty says.

By the time Cece and Jerry’s 50th wedding anniversary came along, their large and very active family could be difficult to gather. The children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren surprised them by having as many as could come gathered on the front lawn when Cece and Jerry opened the door. “The front yard was full of family,” Cece says delightedly. That night, they had a big cookout in the backyard. One of the grandsons put together a video of the event, a challenging task over 20 years ago, when the technology was far clumsier than it is today.

For Cece’s 80th birthday, the family was in Forest Lake. To celebrate, grandson Ben Smith went on the dock and played his bagpipes. It was a memorable moment not only for the family, but for the many boaters who came over to listen.

To stay in touch, Cece has mastered her iPhone. “Mom likes to text us so we can share what the kids are doing,” Susan says. “Google’s her best friend – she’s great on looking things up.” With a smile, she adds, “She’s great with emojis.” The grandchildren all call, text or visit when they can.

Cece and Jerry both use the word “content” when they talk about their life together.

In a recent holiday photo, Jerry is wearing a red sweatshirt that says, “I have everything I want for Christmas.” Cece is wearing a matching sweatshirt that says, “It’s me. I’m Everything.”