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Land of 10,000 Stories: Neighborhood of Love

All six couples on a block in Elk River have stuck to their promise for better or worse for decades.

EDITOR'S NOTE: This story originally aired in Feb. of 2012.

ELK RIVER, Minn. - In Sherburne County, Elk River is the county seat.

In Elk River, Holt Avenue and 5th Street Northwest is the love seat.

"I took one look at him and I said, 'I'm going to marry him," says Gayle Fox about her husband Wally.

The Foxes - who took the plunge in 1959 - count themselves among six couples on their block married more than 50 years.

Across the street live Kathy and Hartley Dahl, who were 17 and 20 when they tied the knot 52 years ago. "He's a good man. He works hard and he cares about me," says Kathy as she grabs her husband's hand.

Four doors down, Henry and Marion Tembrock have also been together for 52 years. Henry says that's partly due to his wife's good cooking.

"That's why I have a little extra weight on me," he explains with a smile.

"I didn't put it in your mouth," says Marion, without missing a beat. Humor hasn't hurt their marriage either.

Don Coder and his wife Joyce bring 65 years of marital bliss to the block. Both believe couples today don't take their vows seriously enough. "We're from the old school," says Don. "Really old."

But even the Coder's 65 years can't hold a candle to their neighbors Pearl and Ralph Stahlberg. Two days before Valentine's Day, the Stahlbergs marked their 70th wedding anniversary.

"Happy as can be," smiles Ralph. "Just like we were in our right minds," adds Pearl as the couple bursts into laughter.

All six couples on the block stuck to their promise for better or worse. Roger Ostby is now living through the latter. Hannah, Roger's wife of 64 years, is in a nursing home with Alzheimer's disease. "She was my sweetheart then and still is, no matter what the circumstances are," he says.

Roger visits every day. "Hannah, do you love me?" he asks, with his arm around her shoulders. On good days he gets a response. Today Hannah is too sleepy to answer.

But there is no doubting Roger still loves Hannah. "Well, I tell you I think when something like this happens where they're vulnerable, it's even deeper - the love you have for each other. It is for me."

Perhaps there's something in the water in this neighborhood of love. Or love in the air.

With our nation's fabric ripped by divorce, six couples on the same block have kept their unions intact for more than half a century each, a total of more than 350 years.

Newlyweds are welcome, in fact a house sits empty on the block with a "for sale" sign on the lawn.
Feel free to stop by for a while. Maybe 50 years.

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