Harvey couple mark 70 years of marriage
BY DONNA VICKROY Sun-Times Media dvickroy@southtownstar.com January 30, 2012 9:58AM
Ed and Virginia Stockey, who have been married 70 years, talk in their home in Harvey, IL on Friday January 23, 2012. They celebrated their anniversary on January 17th. | Matt Marton~Sun-Times Media
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Updated: January 30, 2012 2:14PM
Ed Stockey and Virginia Kurzawski met at a dance when they were 18. Ed was a student at Fenger High School in Chicago, and Virginia attended Thornton Township High School in Harvey.
Ed had been dating a friend of Virginia’s sister. But fate had other plans. The couple, now 90 years old, ended up together, even though Virginia says, “He wasn’t much of a dancer. But he could roller skate.”
They dated for two years before Ed proposed.
“She wasn’t sure I was worth the trouble,” he says. “But I fooled her. I was a sweetie.”
He says it took a little longer to win over her father, though, “Her dad said, ‘Why are you marrying that guy? It’ll never last.’ ”
Seventy years later and living in Harvey— , they’re still married and still laughing at each other’s wisecracks.
So when exactly were they married?
“Hmmm, Jan. 17, hmmm, 1942, right?” Virginia says, looking at Ed.
“Hey, if you don’t know, maybe you shouldn’t be part of this,” he says, “We’ve been married 77 years.”
Virgini: “You’re dreamin’.”
“Well, it seems like 77 years,” he says.
“Seems like a hundred,” she says.
They were married at St. Susanna Church in Harvey. A reception for about 100 people followed in Roseland.
Soon after, Ed enlisted in the Navy, where he served for three years, seeing duty in Brazil, Saipan and Guam.
Meanwhile, Virginia lived with his parents and wrote to her husband regularly.
After Ed was discharged, the couple lived for a few years with Ed’s parents in West Pullman before buying the Cape Cod-style house in Harvey in 1949 where they still live.
Ed found work as a crane operator at the nearby International Harvester plant, where Virginia worked while he was in the Navy.
In time, they added onto their home, doubling the size of their kitchen to accommodate their four children. Their oldest, Phyllis, who was diagnosed with polio when she was 8, still lives with them, as does her son Frank and his daughter Taylor.
Daughter Ruth is a retired biology professor who lives in Oregon. Son Gregg is a psychologist.
All of the kids, including the youngest, Janet, and all of the grandchildren were able to make it home for this past Christmas.
The Stockeys share a love of opera, a passion handed down by one of Ed’s uncles. Once, they actually got to meet Luciano Pavarotti and shake his hand while dining at Cavallini’s Tavern in Chicago.
Early on, Ed taught himself woodcarving and helped found the Midwest Carver’s Museum in South Holland. The Stockeys’ home is filled with his handiwork. There are relief carvings hanging in the living room and carved animals in a curio cabinet in the kitchen.
A sense of humor has helped the couple endure life’s ups and downs. Ed has survived two strokes and two heart attacks. He is hard of hearing and walks with a cane. Virginia says she’s in pretty good health. She still does two loads of laundry and cooks dinner every day.
To what do they attribute their long, happy marriage?
“We were sensible, I guess,” Virginia says. “We had our children to take care of.”
Says Ed: “The secret to a happy marriage? It’s having a good basement.”
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