MOUNT ZION - Maybe they were following their grandparents' footsteps, but sheer numbers tell their story.

Bob and Cora Newlin Trimble were married more than 69 years. By Dec. 20, four of their grandchildren with Mount Zion roots - Woody Gosnell, Dewey Gosnell, Irene Clow and Delores Wendel and their spouses - will have a combined total of 225 years of marriage.

It all started with Irene Gosnell marrying Dick Clow on Dec. 3, 1950, in Decatur.

"We met in school," recalled Irene Clow from her Okeechobee, Fla., home.

"I think I was 10; he was 10, too. We didn't go steady until we were seniors. We didn't have a great big wedding. None of us did," she said.

Then Woody Gosnell and Ginny Gordon were married Nov. 10, 1951, in Elwin.

"My church (Mount Zion Presbyterian) had burned down in March 1951, so we were married in Elwin," Ginny Gosnell said.

"Dewey (Gosnell) was supposed to be in the wedding," she said, but Dewey didn't make it because the soldier was trapped in 26 inches of snow in Fort Leonard Wood, Mo.

Then in 1953, just a day apart, Dewey Gosnell and Mary Meny married Dec. 19 in Mount Zion, and Delores Gosnell and Lee Wendell married Dec. 20 in Decatur.

"I latched onto him in the seventh grade and never turned him loose," said Mary Gosnell, who now lives in Dalton City. "It took me until I was 21 to catch him."

"The guys came home from the service for a week's leave," recalled Delores Wendell, to allow one wedding to follow the other.

Lee Wendell was serving in the Navy and Dewey Gosnell in the Army.

Irene Clow, Ginny Gosnell, Mary Gosnell and Lee Wendell graduated from high school in 1950, Mary Gosnell said, and the siblings and their spouses always have been friends.

For example, in 1989, the couples caravanned to Alaska when brothers Woody and Dewey retired, Ginny Gosnell said.

"We talked about it for a long time," recalled Mary Gosnell, adding there were many dinner table conversations starting with, "Boy, when we retire, we are going to Alaska."

And, not only do the couples have many years of marriage, but they also have 146 years connecting them to employment at A.E. Staley Mfg. Co. Ginny Gosnell was there part time for 29 years, while Dick Clow worked there for 36 years, Dewey Gosnell for 40 and Lee Wendel for 41.

By the way, just so there's no doubt. Not only did the Gosnell siblings' grandparents have a long marriage but so did the parents of each of their spouses. Dick Clow's parents were married 52 years, Ginny Gosnell's for 54, Mary Gosnell's for 60 and Lee Wendel's for 66 years.

amannlein@herald-review.com|421-6976