A local couple marks their time of being married for more than half a century.
Their story is an interesting one.
Laura and Jim W. Pulliam, a staff sergeant stationed at Forbes Air Force Base, met on a blind date with two other couples.
But Laura says even that wasn’t supposed to happen.
Jim was a friend of one of her family’s neighbors and had been faced with a night without a date when the girl that was supposed to go with him came down sick.
Laura said her father offered to let Laura go instead, and, according to Laura, “the rest is history.”
Interestingly enough, all the other couples that went with Laura and Jim on the blind group date have all been married for 50 plus years “One is even up in their 60 year,” remarked Laura.
Laura’s family loved Jim, and after a year and a half of dating, the two were married July 5, 1957 in Miami, Ok., where they eloped; Jim was 23, but Laura’s age was another adventure.
“I thought I was 18,” Laura said, “But I later found out that I was actually 17. But that’s a completely different story.”
Mr. and Mrs. Pulliam settled in Madison and now have three grown children;
Tracy Bowen and her husband Ben have one daughter, Heather. Chris Pulliam and his wife, Jacqueline ‘Missie’ have two children and have newly welcomed their first grandchild, Laura and Jim’s first great-grandchild, a little boy, into the family; and Laura and Jim’s youngest, John C. Pulliam, a former Florida Highway Patrol officer.
All of their children, grandchildren and their one great-grandchild made their home in Madison County.
“When they got old enough to choose their own place to live, they all came back to Madison to live on the farm,” said Laura in regards to her children and the farm that she and her husband live on.
Jim Pulliam retired from his position at Forbes Air Base in 1972. Laura worked as school bus driver for many years but she retired in 1995; “But I loved every second of it,” said Laura.
On the Pulliam’s 50th wedding anniversary, which happened to fall on a Sunday, Jim had a surprise up his sleeve for his wife.
“Jim has never once surprised me,” said Laura. “But this was the one time that he did.”
Working with their daughter, Tracy, Jim arranged the Sunday service at their church to be more than a sermon; he proposed again.
“He went down on one knee and asked me to marry him,” said Laura. “My friend was behind me and said, ‘you are supposed to say yes!’”
The Pulliam’s celebrated their 50th anniversary by holding the wedding they had never given themselves due to eloping; surrounded by their friends and children as they celebrated their many years of marriage to one another.
When asked what she considered to be the recipe for maintaining a marriage that has lasted as long as theirs, Laura laughed. “It’s a combination,” Laura said.
“My husband is my best friend. That’s important,” added Laura. “We made it work.”