VALENTINE’S DAY
MyEagleNews.com
Wednesday, February 10, 2021
A3
‘An unbreakable bond’
Ranching couple reflects on 55 years of marriage ahead of Valentine’s Day
As people rush to make
dinner reservations for Val-
entine’s Day, a ranching cou-
ple in Grant County, who have
been married for half a cen-
tury, said it’s just another day.
Eugene “Perk” and Char-
lene Perkins, who will cel-
ebrate 55 years of marriage
on March 6, told the Eagle
their relationship has always
been more about consistency,
commitment and companion-
ship, and less about obligatory
cards, candy and flowers once
a year to show their love for
one another.
Charlene said an “underly-
ing deep love” brought them
together, and it’s endured and
grown stronger over the years
for the couple who raised
two kids in a “working ranch
family.”
Charlene recalled their
wedding day, in detail, as if it
happened yesterday: from the
“fluffy” handmade dress she
sewed herself to Perk, a work-
ing cowboy, wearing a white
satin shirt and blue jeans.
She laughed as she told the
Eagle about the preacher in a
flower-print shirt whom nei-
ther had met before their wed-
ding who agreed to officiate
the wedding on short notice.
Charlene, who was 19 at
the time, said she wanted to
get married in a church with a
preacher officiating. She said
all she knew was the color-
fully clothed preacher, named
Reverend Blackburn, was a
Christian and could match
them in March.
“I knocked on the door,
and here comes this guy, and
he had a flower shirt on and a
vacuum cleaner in his hand,”
she said. “That’s the preacher.”
Perk, who was 24 at the
time, said the couple went on
to have two “great kids,” four
“awesome granddaughters”
and two great-grandchildren.
Perk jokingly said Charlene
told their story for the both of
them during his interview: “I’d
probably lie anyway.”
Jokes aside, he said the
couple worked “side by
side” over the years and
“WE’VE HAD A LOT OF BAD TIMES. WE’VE BEEN THROUGH LOSING COWS AND GETTING COWS
AND LOSING EVERYTHING. THROUGH IT ALL, THERE WAS STILL THAT THREAD THAT COULDN’T
BE BROKE. BECAUSE IT WASN’T A THREAD, IT WAS A ROPE.”
—Charlene Perkins on nearly 55 years of marriage
Contributed photo
Eugene ‘Perk’ and Charlene Perkins cut their wedding cake in
1966 after taking their vows at a Garden City, Idaho, church.
Contributed photo
Eugene ‘Perk’ and Charlene Perkins on their 25th anniversary. The ranching couple will celebrate
55 years of marriage March 6.
kept things simple.
“Neither one of us did a lot
of talking,” he said. “But if
something was bothering us,
we were not scared to tell the
other person, and if we didn’t
agree, then we didn’t agree.
We just went on.”
He said society as a whole
does not value marriage like it
did in the past.
“Nobody’s willing to make
a commitment,” he said. “I
mean, they call it progress.
We’ve slid back so far its not
even funny.”
Perk said the world has
drastically changed and he
would not want to be a twen-
ty-something again.
He quoted Rodney Dan-
gerfield in the 1980s movie
“Back to School”: “It’s a jun-
gle out there. Don’t leave
home.”
As Charlene looks back
MyEagleNews.com
—Eugene ‘Perk’ Perkins on nearly 55 years of marriage
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through losing cows and get-
ting cows and losing every-
thing. Through it all, there was
still that thread that couldn’t
be broke. Because it wasn’t a
thread, it was a rope.”
NEW LOCATION: Producer’s Livestock
A MAN
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on 55 years of marriage, she
said “an unbreakable bond”
carried them through difficult
times.
“We’ve had a lot of bad
times,” she said. “We’ve been
“NEITHER ONE OF US DID A LOT
OF TALKING. BUT IF SOMETHING
WAS BOTHERING US, WE WERE NOT
SCARED TO TELL THE OTHER PERSON,
AND IF WE DIDN’T AGREE, THEN WE
DIDN’T AGREE. WE JUST WENT ON.”
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