SANTA ANA : For Better, Worse--and Then Some

Roderick and Agnes O’Connor were married after a gigantic rainstorm.

On their wedding morning, the rain had cut off electrical power in the tiny Wisconsin church. They exchanged their vows by candlelight, and a man sang a solo for them. By noon, the clouds disappeared. And the sun peeked out.

“I knew then that our life was going to be kind of pleasant with lots of sunshine,” Agnes O’Connor said.

The O’Connors now have been married for more than 66 years. He is 92 and she is 91. In celebration of Older American Month, the city of Santa Ana recently honored them and two other couples with a luncheon that featured a wedding cake and Polynesian music. And they were serenaded with a piano rendition of “It Had to Be You.”

Lenny Wiggs, a Santa Ana community services supervisor, said the city sent bulletins to churches and senior citizen centers in May searching for couples who have been married 65 years or longer. Four couples from Santa Ana responded, and three could attend the lunch.

“Anybody who’s been married so long deserves a little celebration,” Wiggs said.

Clifford and Viola Routhiveux were married 67 years ago after a two-year engagement that was full of good conversation and long strolls. He met her while she was working as a housekeeper at his sister’s tavern.

Routhiveux admits that he was a bit nervous the day he waited at the altar for Viola. He was 20 and she was 18.

“Oh, I was scared,” recalled Routhiveux. “We were being married by her uncle and I thought, ‘Gosh, I better be at my best behavior.’ ”

He survived the ceremony with shaky knees and a quivering voice.

There is a secret to a successful marriage, said Roderick O’Connor, a retired heating engineer, who dressed nattily for the luncheon in a gray suit and a checkered tie.

“You tell each other the truth about what you like and what you dislike,” O’Connor said. “Right, mother?”

“Yes, Gramps,” Agnes O’Connor said in absolute agreement. “You got it.”

For instance, he told her when they were newlyweds that he absolutely hated rare roast beef. She told him she hated fish, which he loves. They compromised and settled on well-done roasts and no seafood.

But compromising isn’t always the glue that keeps a marriage together, says James (Sherman) Garver, 84, who has been married to Etta, 82, for 66 years. The two still cuddle and hold hands.

“Pshaw, the secret really depends on how beautiful your wife is,” Garver said.