Mr. and Mrs. McClain Celebrate Their 70th Wedding Anniversary
February 17, 2021 will be a special day in the lives of Catherine and James McClain because it will mark the couple's 70th Anniversary.
Their staying together is a genuine love story grounded in love, understanding and putting God first.
"We met through a singing quartet that my sister was in," said Catherine McClain. "We all went to see different groups sing and I met James there. He was apart of a quartet, too. My sister had a friend who lived near James' grandmother and James lived with his grandmother, so we would go around to his grandmother's house to visit. That is really how we became interested in one another. When we married, James was nineteen and I was nineteen and that was in 1951."
The couple once dreamed of being part of a double wedding.
"We had two friends who we had talked with about planning a double wedding, but for some reason they never got together. James and I went on and decided that we would. I had only known James for about three months. I came to Grand Rapids in 1950 from Arkansas because my sister had moved to Grand Rapids. James was raised in Alabama and came to Grand Rapids in 1949."
Out of their union came seven children.
"We had seven children but we lost my oldest daughter Claudia three years ago today," said McClain. I still have three girls and two boys."
The thing that has kept the McClains together through all of the years is God.
"If I were going to really tell it like it is, I am going to have to say that the Lord kept us together," said Catherine. "I have to put Him there, because if it wasn't for Him then we both probably would have gone in another direction. We have had some ups and downs and some rough times, but through it all we stayed together. A lot of the time we stayed together for the sake of the kids and sometimes we stayed together for our sake. It was not easy."
Despite what other couples around them went through, some choosing to part as a couple and some choosing to stay together, the McClains made a clear choice to stay together and weather the storms that life can bring together as one.
"Some friends of ours separated and some of them died and left their mates. I look back and I can say that I am glad that I did stay with my husband and my family, because we love each other more and it made us look out for each other more. I am proud to see that I have a solid group of kids."
James is 90 years old and Catherine is 88 years old, both are healthy and doing well.
"I take a few pills to regulate my blood pressure and James doesn't take as many pills as I do for his."
Amazingly, even though she raised seven children, Mrs. McClain worked at the former Sunshine or Kent Community Hospital on Fuller Avenue for about seven years. She then went on to work at Keeler Brass for about 5 years and then worked at Field's Fabric.
"When the kids were small, James and I worked different shifts so that one of us could be home with the kids," she said. "James worked construction and did asphalt work."
Traveling continues to be something that the couple enjoys being blessed to experience together.
"We travel a lot." Said Catherine. "We do most of our traveling while visiting with our kids. We go to North Carolina where we have one son and we would go stay with him for a while during the winter and then we would come back to Atlanta and stay with our daughter for the rest of the winter. In fact, my kids are trying to get us to come down south where it is warm right now."
My son Ellis really takes care of my husband and me really well. He is the one who checks on us and is our baby sitter. He and my oldest son who lives behind us really look out for us. My son Ellis brings me live, fresh flowers every week to put on my dining room table. He is a good boy who really loves his mother and father, I will have to say that about him. He has a lot of love for us and he shows it.
With Valentine's Day right around the corner, love is in the air, Mrs. McClain says "I think that love is one of the most important things in a relationship," said McClain. "Having a good understanding with your mate is also one of the most important things that you need to have in order to have a successful, long lasting relationship. You also have to have love and those are the basics. You have to have Love and understanding, and you have to put God, first because His promises are never broken."
Tagged in: