Couple who celebrated their 80th wedding anniversary share secret to ‘long-lasting marriage’

Whether they're showering their significant other with chocolates, putting together a DIY gift from the heart or wining and dining at a fancy restaurant out - it's clear that many couples are feeling loved up this Valentine's Day.

Now, while a whole load of couples out there will be celebrating the exciting milestone together - there's one pair who have been doing it for almost eight decades now.

The couple in question, George and Louise Dennis, who have just celebrated their 80th wedding anniversary, have since shared the secret to a 'long-lasting marriage'.

The pair, who have enjoyed life together as a couple since 1944, toasted to the occasion earlier this month (4 January).

"It was the best thing that happened to me when I met you," George told Louise on WTVY.

George met his future wife when they were both children, recalling: "I was delivering the paper. I used to deliver the Dothan Eagle when I was 16.

WTVY

"There she was standing on that porch. That was one pretty sight, I’ll tell you. Gorgeous."

Right, where's the tissues?

Soon after first crossing paths that fateful day, the pair started dating and since that very moment, they were utterly inseparable.

As high schoolers in 1944, they traveled to Bonifay, Florida and eloped without their parent’s permission.

Then that very same night, George took Louise back home where they told her parents the good news.

WTVY

"I said, 'Well, we went off and got married'," George said. "Oh, you could have heard her (Louise’s mother) scream clean from Dothan."

While both sets of families tried to intervene in their young love, George and Louise finally got the blessing off her father.

By April of that same year, George was called up to serve in World War II but before he departed from Louise, the pair made a promise to one another to never be apart from one another once the war was over.

A few months later in December, George was tragically injured after tripping over a land mine and went on to lose part of his leg before returning home.

Louise recalled: "For 16 months, it was a time filled with surgery and healing. Sometimes, a month and a half, six weeks, eight weeks, three months apart and he would come home to recover during that time."

WTVY

They went on to adopt a daughter named Crystal in 1952 but sadly faced another tragedy when the seven year old sadly died in an accident involving a horse.

"You never, never, get over the loss of a child but the Lord himself is walking with you and he walks you through it," Louise explained.

While they decided to not have another child following the heartbreaking loss of Crystal, George and Louise would always have a house full of young people who they considered as their surrogate children.

Sticking by each others' side, the pair eventually opened up a rug business named The Persian Gallery which went on for a good 40 years.

And as for the secret to being married for almost eight decades?

Well, the pair both agree that their faith has guided them this far - oh and George had another tip.

"Tell the husband to say yes dear," he jokingly added.