Kansas couple celebrates 70 years of wedded bliss - WSFA.com: News Weather and Sports for Montgomery, AL.

Kansas couple celebrates 70 years of wedded bliss

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By Chris Oberholtz, Multimedia Producer - email
By Bonyen Lee, News Reporter - bio | email
Billie and Gene Trageser say the story of how they met is a simple one that still brings a smile to their face 70 years later. Billie and Gene Trageser say the story of how they met is a simple one that still brings a smile to their face 70 years later.
The couple's 10 children say the two refuse to do anything without each other, a bond that outlasted the parting words of their priest who married them on Jan. 28, 1943, at St. Thomas Church in Kansas City. The couple's 10 children say the two refuse to do anything without each other, a bond that outlasted the parting words of their priest who married them on Jan. 28, 1943, at St. Thomas Church in Kansas City.

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WEA, KS (KCTV) -

It is a marriage that stands the test of time, never wrinkled with age.

Billie and Gene Trageser say the story of how they met is a simple one that still brings a smile to their faces 70 years later.

The Bucyrus, KS, couple met the old fashioned way.

"I'm so lucky," said Billie, as she recalled the first time she set eyes on her future husband.

She snatched him up at a dance.

"I saw him and immediately fell in love with him, and he took me home," she said.

The couple's 10 children say the two refuse to do anything without each other, a bond that outlasted the parting words of the priest who married them Jan. 28, 1943, at St. Thomas Church in Kansas City.

He said, "It would never last," Billie recalled.

Oh but it did, and 110 grandchildren and great-grandchildren later, they are still going strong.

After the wedding, the newlyweds moved to the Bucyrus area where Gene, a farmer and founder of Louisburg Construction, called home since he was a child.

Billie lived in Kansas City until she married Gene, and moving to the country was a new experience. She was a seamstress for 32 years while raising their family.

The love birds have been members of the Queen of the Holy Rosary Church in Wea, KS, for more than 84 years. 

They gathered at the church Sunday for a reception and luncheon in their honor and to celebrate Gene's 90th birthday.  Billie even wore a replica of her wedding dress to toast their big day.

But as time broke down, it never touched the untouchable.

"I really love him," said Billie, wearing a replica of her wedding dress Sunday.

"She is the greatest," Gene exclaims.

The couple says there is no secret to a long marriage except, Gene says, to just "behave yourself."

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