George Burns reads “Black Coffee” to his wife Priscilla “Jean” Burns in their home. The poem Burns wrote is about the first time he met his future wife. The couple will be celebrating 70 years of marriage Nov. 29.
George and Priscilla “Jean” Burns pose for a photo in 1946 shortly before the couple got married. The couple is celebrating 70 years of marriage Nov. 29, and will have a get-together Nov. 18 for friends and family to celebrate the milestone.
George and Priscilla “Jean” Burns sit in their respective chairs in their living room. George is normally not seen without a cowboy hat on unless he is in his chair (for this photo he compromised).
Who knew a cup of coffee would lead to 70 years of marriage?
La Center residents Priscilla “Jean” and George Burns will celebrate their 70th anniversary Nov. 29, marking decades of marriage that began on a chance meeting at an ice cream shop.
George passed by the Snowflake Ice Cream Parlor that existed in downtown Vancouver in the 1940s. He didn’t have a taste for ice cream, but after seeing “two beautiful brown eyes” looking out of the shop, he had to stop by.
“Now who in his right mind is going to order a cup of coffee at an ice cream parlor?” George said, pointing to himself. He commented how she “lovingly” stirred in sugar and cream, enough so to trump his own preferences.
“How in the world am I going to tell her that I don’t take cream and sugar in my coffee, I drink it black,” George said. Luckily, the coffee was good, so he came back for more.
About a year after that meeting, George, 91, and Jean, 90, got married, kicking off seven decades of marital bliss. The Burns clan has expanded under their patriarch and matriarch, as George and Jean had four children, nine grandchildren, 14 great-grandchildren and most recently a great-great-grandchild — a full five generations.
George memorialized the meeting in a poem, “Black Coffee,” which is one of dozens of poems in a book of his work, “Reflections in Poetry: Cowboy and Then Some.” Poetry has been one of his hobbies, but professionally he spent his career laying carpet, eventually getting the credentials to do inspections of carpet manufacturers.
While George was working, Priscilla was managing the household, which apart from raising kids and cooking also made her “the bookkeeper” of the family.
“She did everything except lay the carpet,” George said. “She even helped out sometimes.”
As to what the secret was to their long-lived marriage, faith and beliefs were chief among what Jean and George felt kept them together. As Jehovah’s Witnesses, following the Bible is paramount, which they credit with keeping them on the right path through life.
“Anything you face in life, the answer is in the scriptures, if we heed them,” Jean said, crediting it for their success in raising the family.
Faith would eventually lead George to have an unexpected addition to his resume — a rap sheet. During World War II he was imprisoned for two years as he was a conscientious objector, which at that time did not come with amnesty for people such as Jehovah’s Witnesses who are against military service.
“I asked her, ‘What would you think of marrying an ex-convict?’ and she said, ‘well, that all depends on what they were in prison for,’” George said.
“There wasn’t even a waver” in Jean’s commitment given the reason for his imprisonment, George said. “We went steady from that point on.”
“I could see anybody that would stand up and didn’t want to kill, they had something going for them,” Jean said.
Music has also been a big part of the Burns clan’s cohesion, as granddaughter Carrie Vermilyea said that back in the day the couple would play at dances, Jean playing piano and George playing guitar.
George and Jean’s relationship isn’t the only long-lived marriage in the family, as several of their offspring have marriages lasting decades, in one case 51 years, a milestone in itself.
Though steeled through the trials of the Great Depression, the Burns are not afraid to embrace the rapid advance of technology. Vermilyea commented that they were proficient with tablets, using social media and even electronic versions of The Bible for their worship.
“I know people half their age that struggle with that stuff,” Vermilyea said. “They stay in touch with a lot of people through Instagram.”
Although Jean said that she and George never thought they would live to such an age, Shelley Cole, daughter, commented on their relative fitness both mentally and physically. She said George had laid the carpet in their bathroom just six months ago, while Jean’s memory remains sharp.
“(Jean) doesn’t forget a date, an anniversary or any check that comes through the bank account,” Cole said, with George adding she had a very close eye on finances.
Although the Burns took care in raising their own children according to their faith, they had extended their support far beyond their own blood.
“They’ve been mom and dad, and grandpa and grandma, to a lot of people,” Cole, said. Jean said they had “spiritually adopted” a lot of people in their time.
“Our door was always open. If anybody needed anything we tried our best. We weren’t always able to financially but there are other ways you can give,” Jean said.
