Keene couple to celebrate 72nd wedding anniversary

P eter V.K. Funk locked eyes with his now wife, Mary, nearly 75 years ago, and he has never looked away.

"It was love at first sight, and it’s been love ever since," Peter said in an interview Sunday as he held Mary’s hand.

The two sat side-by-side in plush recliners in the living room of their Keene home, where they recalled some of their fondest memories together and with their seven children: Peter Funk Jr., John Funk, Celine Gandolfo, Mary Davis, Mark Funk, Paul Funk and Eleanor Schuster.

This week, the family will gather at Sunnymanse Farm in Roxbury to celebrate the couple’s 72nd wedding anniversary. The pair married Nov. 25, 1942, in an Episcopal church in New York City.

"It’s hard for us to believe that we’ve been in love for so long," Peter said with a smile.

Mary agreed. "I have the best of the best."

The two, now in their 90s, met at a party when Mary was just 16 years old and Peter 18. Mary was one of three girls sitting in a row, Peter recalled. He said "hello" to two of them, but it was the third, Mary, who really captured his attention.

Peter was an undergraduate student at Princeton University at the time. School policy prohibited students from getting married until after graduation, but that didn’t faze Peter; within two years of meeting Mary, he proposed.

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"I said to the president, ‘Sir, I know that I will be kicked out if I get married, but, after all, I am only the first one, and you’ll just have to change the rules because a lot of people are going to do what I’m doing,’ " Peter recalled Sunday.

School policy changed thereafter to allow students to wed, he said.

Peter knew time wasn’t on his side, with World War II well underway. He had enlisted to fight as a Marine and he wanted to marry before leaving the U.S. on assignment in the South Pacific.

Seventy-two years later, one of the couple’s three daughters, Celine Gandolfo of Keene, shared with her parents and siblings Sunday a plastic bin full of love letters Mary and Peter wrote to each other during the war. The bin is one of three used to store the daily letters.

Time has yellowed the paper, but the stories contained within them are as alive as ever in the hearts of a couple still madly in love.

"The reason I married Mary is I didn’t want her to be alone; I wanted her to have me," Peter said, as his children chuckled.

The two say they never fight because they know the importance of two simple words: "Yes, dear." And because they have always taken the time to work out any disagreements and to listen to each other.

Gandolfo, who has lived with her parents for the past five years, said that despite caring for seven children, Mary and Peter never stopped caring for each other.

"Even today when Dad walks into the room, Mom will say, ‘Ah, look at that handsome man,’ " Gandolfo said.

Mary and Peter have also not lost sight of each other’s sense of humor.

"She’s a wonderful painter. She painted the house a couple of times," Peter said and winked at Mary.

Portraits of the couple’s children and landscapes depicting places important to Mary hang throughout the couple’s two-story home. One of Gandolfo as a child hangs above the mantel in the couple’s bedroom.

In their bedroom are two twin beds placed less than an inch apart. One is covered in a blue striped comforter, the other with a pink comforter of the same make.

Mary isn’t a fan of having two beds. She told her children it’s because she isn’t able to cuddle with Peter.

Peter said he remembers how he couldn’t get home to Mary soon enough in the mid-1940s at the war’s end. He flew to California and had to hitchhike his way to Texas, where he then was able to get a flight home to New Jersey.

In the years after Peter returned from the war, he really started to craft his passion: writing. One of his fiction books, "My Six Loves," is about the Funk family. In 1963, it was adopted into a motion picture, with actress Debbie Reynolds playing the lead.

Peter was also Reader’s Digest’s word columnist. He and Mary tackled collaborative projects aimed at teaching people about the fastest and easiest ways to expand their vocabulary.

And, at one time, Peter had his own magazine called "Faith Today." It contained varied articles from people of all faiths and backgrounds.

Religion has always been an important part of the couple’s life. They attend church every Sunday at St. James Episcopal on Keene’s West Street.

Peter decided to go to seminary school in his 70s in Princeton, N.J. He said he felt the Lord had given him the ability to pray for people in need of healing, including those in hospitals.

He did a lot of counseling as a deacon and Mary often accompanied him.

She has been by his side through everything — even when he ran six New York City marathons in his 60s. She would cheer him through the finish line and have in-hand his favorite sports drink.

"Of course, I was there," Mary said when her children finished telling the story. "Where else would I be?"

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