Even as college students, Michael and Arlene Thomas were intent on defying the odds. When they wed, he was a 22-year-old senior and she a 21-year-old junior. "People made negative comments about marriage, saying things like ‘Your first year of marriage is going to be a honeymoon, but you’re gonna get tired of him,’ " Arlene recalls. “But being married has been easy.”
Both Vera and Horace believe that with God at the forefront of their marriage, anything can be accomplished. “Our love is solid,” Horace says. “You commit yourself, you submit yourself, and you give yourself to and for each other. That makes a successful marriage.”
As teenagers, both attended the same church fellowships and ended up making eye contact at a worship service. “There was something about her that stood out,” says Ronald. “She was someone who loved God so purely.”
They built a friendship that blossomed into an engagement. “We were never boyfriend and girlfriend,” says Chiquita. “But whenever we needed to talk, we turned to each other.”