By Alexandra Booth
What keeps a marriage together for 50 years? For one area couple, their long-lasting matrimony can be credited, at least in part, to Village Inn Pie.
Bloomingdale residents Chuck and Marcia Hoening tied the knot on June 27, 1964.
The couple met while Chuck was stationed at Lincoln Air Force Base in Nebraska. Marcia, a nursing student at the University of Nebraska, came to the base when she accompanied some of her friends. The pair hit it off and dated about three years before Chuck finally popped the question in a parking garage after shopping.
They married in St. Cecilia’s Cathedral in Omaha. It was a small wedding ceremony, which consisted of family and friends. Chuck, a Computer Programmer Analyst, spent 8 years in the Air Force and then became a career analyst, working for military contractors.
Work took the family to Virginia, Nebraska, Ohio and Hawaii. When the company he was working for offered a transfer, the Hoening’s insisted on palm trees and settled in Florida in 1971.
With two sons and four grandchildren, the Hoenings also love travelling the 50 states and especially enjoy Glacier National Park.
Back on their wedding day in 1964, Chuck and Marcia needed a place to go for breakfast after their ceremony.
Village Inn was somewhere the couple had eaten before, since it was close to the School of Nursing.
“Marcia and I tried to go to a Village Inn on each of our anniversaries,” Chuck said.
To celebrate 50 years since their first ‘I Do’, the pair went to Village Inn Brandon. Marcia even brought the original menu from their wedding day. As a treat, Village Inn covered their bill and they received a free Coconut Cream pie.
Chuck and Marcia attribute, “The three C’s: Christ, Commitment and Communication” to their marriage. Though retired, Chuck has been the delivery manager for the Osprey Observer and Christian Voice Monthly Newspapers for 8 years and is often accompanied by Marcia, a just recently-retired RN. If you see this pair in the community, wish them Happy Anniversary!
