Thomas and Elizabeth Graham, residents of Cherry Lake since the 1970s, will have been married for 70 years on April 7.
The Graham couple have lived in their cozy home on Cherry Lake for 42 years, where they enjoy books, spending time with their family and the simple things in life. While they may look like any normal couple, the Grahams have a lot of unique history behind them.
Thomas was born in Ireland and came to Ellis Island, NY. when he was just six years old. He and his family landed on American soil in New York and then took a train straight to Philadelphia. The family lived in Pennsylvania with his grandmother for a month before moving into their own apartment. While he doesn't remember much of the boat ride to Ellis Island, he remembers how it was when he went into the first grade in America.
In 1943, after high school, Thomas was drafted into the military and traveled many different places during his time in WWII, going to Europe, Germany and France. When Hitler was defeated and Germany surrendered, Thomas and his unit were shipped out to the Philippines in 1945 and were supposed to make an invasion to Japan, but never made it there after President Truman ordered bombs to be dropped on Japan.
Thomas had his first week of basic training in Clearwater. During his first weekend there, he attended a USO dance in town.
It was there he met Elizabeth. “He came to Clearwater on February 21 and we met February 23,” said Elizabeth, who was still in high school when she met Thomas.
Thomas stayed in a tent camp at the golf course across the neighborhood where Elizabeth lived and the two met during the USO dance. They went to Clearwater First Methodist Church that same Sunday as their first date and were engaged in September.
“He said 'when [WWII] is over, will you marry me?'” said Elizabeth. When the war ended, Thomas returned in March of 1946 and the two were married a month later on April 7, 1946 in the same church they had their first date. Elizabeth's sister was engaged to a boy from Clearwater and when Elizabeth heard of the news, she urged her sister to have a dual wedding with her and Thomas; as a result, the two couples had a double ceremony in a two-aisle church with two ministers.
After the war, Thomas worked with Elizabeth's dad as a mechanic as part of the GI bill. After high school, Elizabeth took an inspection course at the University of Florida and worked in a shipyard in Tampa. She lost her job after Germany surrendered. In search of another job, Elizabeth moved back to Clearwater with a friend and worked in a radio laboratory as an engineer, where she drew up plans for different projects.
Thomas joined the National Guard in Clearwater later on. He was with the military for a total of 38 years before retiring in 1983.
The couple ended up in Madison after deciding to leave their comfort zone of Clearwater. The two looked for places to transfer. Thomas stated that they were offered to be stationed in Jacksonville, St. Augustine or Madison; “We'd never even heard of Madison,” said Thomas. The couple drove up to Madison one weekend and decided to put a transfer request in. They moved to Cherry Lake in December of 1972.
Elizabeth formerly worked as an interior decorator for a designer before moving; she began her own business within her home after moving to Cherry Lake. She had three industrial machines and a 10 foot table for her design work. As a designer, she did mostly draperies. She even picked up orders in Clearwater when visiting her family and completed the orders at home. She worked on several drapery projects for houses in Madison and even created the drapery for the Madison First United Methodist Church fellowship hall.
Elizabeth and Thomas have experienced a lot in their lifetime and have traveled by mobile home to every state in the United States except for Hawaii. They also traveled to Canada and enjoyed visiting Nova Scotia. “We had no itinerary,” said Elizabeth when asked how they planned their trips. According to Elizabeth, when she and Thomas woke up in the morning, Thomas flipped through his travel books, chose a destination and figured out how far it was from where they currently were. Then the couple would move on to their next travel destination.
Today, Elizabeth and Thomas don't travel much but instead enjoy the solitude they have at their home.
“We've lived a good life,” said Elizabeth.
In their lifetime, the Graham couple have done a lot outside of their travels. Thomas was a volunteer firefighter with the Cherry Lake Volunteer Firefighter for 25 years and was a member of American Legion for 20 years. Thomas was also an exalted ruler of the B.P.O.E. Lodge 2205 from 1977 to 1978.
Elizabeth and Thomas also both spent a lot of time with the Red Cross at Moody Air Force Base, where they worked for almost 12 years. Elizabeth worked in the pharmacy and Thomas kept up with the medical records.
Together, they have two children, four grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren, with another expected in September.
The long-lasting marriage the two share is credited to one simple thing. “We took care of each other,” said Thomas. “Even at 90 years old, we still take care of each other.”