Crash Critically Injures Elderly Newlyweds

An elderly couple who were married last month, more than 75 years after they first were college sweethearts, were critically injured in a crash this week.

Paul Johnston, 95, and Lula Marschat, 94, were married June 10. They were involved in a head-on collision with another car Tuesday as they were taking peaches to a 102-year-old friend. Police believe the other driver drifted into their lane on a highway about 40 miles south of Portland.

The couple’s romance was rekindled this spring after Johnston found Marschat’s address in Idaho and wrote to her.

They had had a brief romance in 1924 while attending a small college in Idaho but had gone their separate ways. Both became teachers, had children and were widowed.

When Marschat responded to Johnston’s letter, he immediately flew from Oregon to see her. Four days later, he proposed.

The bride’s daughter, Marilyn Marschat Rhodes, said the two are in separate rooms in the hospital’s intensive care unit.

“As Paul gets stronger, he’s going to insist on getting wheeled in there,” she said.

Lula Johnston suffered broken ribs, a broken arm and a fractured knee; her husband has a fractured leg and a neck injury, a hospital spokesman said. The injuries are serious for anyone but are life-threatening to people as old as the Johnstons. But Paul Johnston’s grandson said they were faring much better Friday.

“Lula has had a little tougher time, but she looked a lot better today,” Spence Johnston said. “My grandfather was talking. In fact, he was talking so much I think they wanted to sedate him.”