Doris and Edgar Willer pose for a photo . Edgar Willer is a World War II veteran who fought in Europe and Doris was brought up in a Quaker family in Poweshiek County . The two married in 1949 and raised four children . They are still together 75 years later .
PROVIDED BY EDGAR AND DORIS WILLER Edgar and Doris Willer leave the church after getting married on April 17 , 1949 . The pair met in Grinnell before eventually moving to Pella , where they live today .
STILL SOLID AFTER
75 YEARS
Edgar and Doris Willer reflect on seven decades of marriage
STORY AND PHOTOS BY DONALD A . PROMNITZ Associate Editor
Edgar and Doris Willer still believe that a marriage is meant to last a lifetime — and at 75 years , theirs is still going strong .
The two married on Easter , April 17 , 1949 . They ’ ve raised four children together and have had their share of sickness and health — and of good times and bad — but they ’ ve never grown tired of one another .
It ’ s disheartening to Doris to see how many modern couples go through divorces , but it was out of the question for the two of them . She said they made their commitment , and they were determined to honor it . It wasn ’ t always easy , but it was worth it .
“ I ’ ll lay awake at night and I ’ ll think of things that happened years ago ,” Doris said . “ But some of them , I thought , ‘ How could we ever survive all that stuff ? But we did .”
Doris , 94 , was raised in Grinnell in a Quaker household . She took a horse to school — the same school out in the country her mother went to . She also had two of the same teachers her mother had in high school .
Edgar , 98 , was born in Tama County on the Meskwaki reservation where his father worked . He was drafted into the U . S . Army after graduating high school in Grinnell to fight in World War II , and was assigned to the 9th Armored Division . He was an assistant driver on an M4 Sherman tank and took part in the Battle of Remagen . During the battle , the Germans bombed the
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