This Christmas, Richard and Lola Allan of Clovis celebrate 71st anniversary

Richard and Lola Allan of Clovis have a Christmastime love story to top just about everyone.

They met on Christmas Eve 1942, and, 364 days later, they married on Dec. 23, 1943.

"We just belonged together," Lola says. "We never questioned it."

This week, they celebrated their 71st wedding anniversary quietly at their home in Bonaventure Mobile Park. He is 91; she is 90. The couple have two sons, five grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren. Family members from out of town will visit them today and through the weekend.

It’s rare for marriages to last 70 years or longer. Worldwide Marriage Encounter, a faith-based marriage enrichment program in the United States, conducts annual projects for the "longest married couple." On Feb. 7, the organization announced that Harold and Edna Owings of Burbank — married 82 years — were the longest married couple.

While the Allans have a way to go to catch the Owings, they can claim being the oldest married couple in a recently released video for pop singer Andy Grammer’s new song,"Honey, I’m Good," which is about love.

Sons David and Rick Allen convinced their parents to be part of the video. The sons came to Clovis, turned their parents’ living room into a "soda fountain" set, taught them lyrics to the song and shot the video a couple of months ago.

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Grammer’s completed video features couples showing signs of how many years they have been married and lip-synching the lyrics. The Allans are near the end — he wears a blue T-shirt and she has on a pink one that reads "71 years" on the front and "And still counting, 72…, 73…" on the back.

"We’re the last blip," Richard says.

The Allans’ love story began at the Imperial Drive-In at Belmont and Palm avenues.

He started working as a dishwasher and made his way up to where he opened and closed the drive-in. He left to take a job as a surveyor for the Santa Fe Railroad in Needles, where he was raised.

He returned to Fresno for Christmas in 1942 and stopped by the drive-in to wish old friends "Merry Christmas!" The place was filled with customers — so many that he tried to order a hot fudge sundae but was told, "Sorry. There are no clean dishes."

So he got off his stool and started bussing dishes.

Lola Cull, who grew up in Kerman, was a new car hop at the drive-in.

"She came in from working the yard and slipped and fell at my feet," he remembers. "I helped her up."

A friendship started. They dated, often roller-skating. He proposed at Kearney Park. They married at the Fresno Courthouse, with her mother, Irma Warkentin, and sister, Doris Cull, standing as witnesses. They drove to Needles for their honeymoon, where family members smothered them with gifts.

"We had a ’36 Ford coupe, and we couldn’t hardly get the trunk closed," he says.

He worked in appliance sales and services before he became a purchasing agent for American Forest Products for about 25 years. He retired at age 63. She was a stay-at-home mother until her sons got older. Then, she worked as a clerk and then made draperies.

The Allans say they have had a good life together.

"He has sort of let me have my own way, and he’s just nice," Lola says. "We might disagree, but we don’t argue. And the time has went by fast."

Richard says, "We did everything together. We roller-skated. We bowled. We line-danced. When money came in, it was ours. Half and half. We didn’t try to out-do the neighbors."

David Allan, who lives in Orange County, believes his parents’ marriage has lasted so long because of good health and love.

"They are alive and well," he says. "It’s unconditional love no matter what. You have to ignore some things."

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