It is said ‘the journey of a 1000 miles starts with just one step’. Sixty years ago this week, Ula Grace Bulow and Louis Victor Corsi stood at the altar of this church and took that step. With those familiar vows, their adventure began. They piled everything they owned into their car and headed off traveling. We never know where those words, or life, will lead us. They stayed in Texas a short while and then moved on to California. A few years later they moved back to Ohio, with two children and a third on the way! Already life was throwing challenges at them. They lived in a small house at the edge of Bethel with no running water, and Mom helped nurse Dad’s mother after she had breast cancer. They stepped up and said ‘We can’.

Dad learned the building trade and soon was remodeling a much better home for us all, while starting the Christmas tree business. Mom worked as a nurse to help support the family. They worked hard but made time to take us for family outings. They said ‘We must’ and always they made sure we had a good, comfortable home and plenty of healthy food. As good parents do, they taught us the value of a dollar, and then encouraged us to make good grades in school by paying us for our ‘A’s!!

As their own parents aged they did their best to see them through those trials. One by one we children grew up and left home… and came back, and left again! They said ‘We love’ and they were always there to help us through our challenges as much as they could.

They were able to travel quite a bit over the years, all over the USA, to Costa Rica, to Europe, twice, to Hong Kong, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand. Not a bad effort for two country folk from Pt. Isabel and Bethel!

The vagaries of age eventually took their toll and grounded them. They have battled through several serious illnesses, and the swallowing of one tiny light bulb, but through it all they have always maintained their love of family and their sense of humor. They said ‘We will’.

Their success in life and in 60 years of marriage, is a testament to perseverance, dedication, discipline and love. We raise our glasses in a toast to Lou and Ula, who really meant it when they said ‘for better or worse’ and whose journey through life together began with two small words, that held a very big meaning, ‘I do’.