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Sweet Devotion: Through nearly 61 years of marriage and a debilitating stroke they still cherish the vows: in sickness and in health
Journal Photo by Walt Unks
Leroy Stanley, 85, pushes his wife, Edna, up their driveway in Knollwood Manor. He also spends time in the mornings reading his well-worn Bible.
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Published: June 7, 2009
Surely there are days when Leroy Stanley doesn't feel up to taking his wife, Edna, to the grocery or out to lunch.
Maybe they come in the dog days of July or August, that special North Carolina kind of weather that makes you tired just hearing it forecast. Perhaps they come in late November or early December when daylight is in short supply and the cold is making his bones ache.
After all, he is 85. Surely he could be forgiven for thinking about skipping one of their outings.
But he won't, because he's a devoted husband.
Edna Stanley suffered a stroke 10 years ago this August that left her confined to a wheelchair. And because Mr. Stanley doesn't drive -- I can't help but call him "Mister," as that's how I've been addressing him since moving across the street from him eight years ago -- the couple has become a familiar sight around Ardmore, the husband pushing his wife up a small hill on Knollwood Street nearly every day on their way to the Thruway Shopping Center.
Mrs. Stanley likes to get out of the house, and Mr. Stanley likes to make his wife happy.
In sickness and in health.
"When you get married, you hear the words but you don't pay attention because you're excited and nervous," Mr. Stanley said. "You don't realize what they mean until you get older."
Blessed lives
Leroy and Edna Stanley will celebrate their 61st wedding anniversary June 15. Like every married couple who has made it that long, the Stanleys have experienced the highs and lows that life throws at people.
They choose to focus on the positives: their son, his children and their great-grandchildren. Their long lives. Their faith.
"We've been blessed," Mr. Stanley said. "We truly have."
For better or worse.
Mr. Stanley first laid eyes on his future wife in 1948 shortly after he mustered out of the Army. He was working at a newsstand in the old Robert E. Lee Hotel "trying to figure out what to do next" when she started working at the hotel.
"My mama was the head switchboard operator and she hired her," he said. "That's how we met. It wasn't three or four months later when we married. There must have been something there because here we are."
The Stanleys are natives of Winston-Salem. He grew up near Old Salem on Marshall Street and she was raised nearby. After they married, they settled in the West Salem neighborhood and lived there until moving to a small, one-story house across town in 1993.
Mr. Stanley held a variety of jobs, including 21 years at Sealtest Dairy. He retired in his 70s after spending a few years working as a security guard in the old First Union building downtown.
"When we got married, this was all country around here," Mr. Stanley said, gesturing at the houses in the surrounding Knollwood Manor subdivision that were built in the late '50s. "Hanes Mall Road was dirt. Boy, things sure changed around here."
‘That's love'
Even as Winston-Salem continued to expand, one thing remained constant: Mr. Stanley's devotion to Mrs. Stanley.
It never occurred to him to do otherwise. That's the way he was raised, and that's the way it was going to be.
These days, Mr. Stanley often can be found in the morning sitting in a lawn chair in his carport where he quietly reads a well-worn Bible. About 11 nearly every weekday, he goes inside to help his wife get ready for their daily date.
She's always wearing a nice dress with her hair and makeup done. Mr. Stanley's almost always sporting a crisp long-sleeved shirt, trousers and his suspenders.
Some days they head to Harris Teeter to pick up a few items. The plastic grocery bags hook nicely over a handle on Mrs. Stanley's chair. Other days, they will go to McDonalds or Chick-fil-A for lunch.
"Everybody knows her down there," Mr. Stanley said, a smile spreading across his face. "She's a real social butterfly."
When people stop to talk, Mrs. Stanley often reaches out to touch them on the hands or arms. At times, it's difficult to understand her speech but it's impossible not to be able to read her bright eyes and wide smile.
Every so often, someone stops to offer the Stanleys a hand. Somebody might carry heavier items from the grocery to their house while they walk the half-mile home. Someone else might stop to help Mr. Stanley push Mrs. Stanley up an incline.
That happened two weeks ago when a stranger saw Mr. Stanley struggling a little on a steep hill coming up from Cloverdale where he had taken Mrs. Stanley to get her hair cut.
"I sure appreciated that," Mr. Stanley said. "We don't go down there that often. I was about spent. People really are nice."
They also know a classic love story when they see one.
"I tell the kids here ‘That's love,'" said Beth Shaw, an employee at the nearby Chick-fil-A. "If you don't have that kind of love, don't bother."
In sickness and in health.
For better or for worse.
To love, honor and cherish.
■ Scott Sexton can be reached at 727-7481 or at ssexton@wsjournal.com.
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