In this day and age, many people can’t say they’ve been married over 20 years. Well, shoot…with divorce and separation rates increasing amongst 29 – 40 year olds, many people can’t say they’ve been married over 10 years. So it is definitely a rare thing to see a couple like Moses and Evelyn Smallwood who have been married longer than most reading this have been alive.
Moses and Evelyn Smallwood just celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary. They met while attending Eastern District High School in Brooklyn, New York. Moses was drafted into the US Navy in 1943 and honorably discharged on March 14, 1946. They married on June 28, 1946 at the First AME Zion Methodist Church in Brooklyn, New York.
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Moses began working for E.R. Squibb & Sons soon after his discharge and retired 45 years later having risen to a leadership management position. Evelyn worked at the Federal Bookbindery in lower Manhattan for several years until 1957 when she became a federal employee on Governor’s Island. She worked for the Treasury Department and then the VA Hospital at Northport where, after 30 years of federal service, she retired after becoming the first Black female Personnel Director in the Veterans Administration.
They began attending Trinity Lutheran Church in St. Albans in 1959 and transferred their membership to The Lutheran Church of the Epiphany in 1963 where they continue to attend worship services regularly, and have served as members of the Church Council, Counting Committee, Evangelism Committee, WELCA, Usher Board and Youth Group sponsors. They were active members of the Lakeview Gardens Block Association, and Moses belonged to a bowling league for many years. They both became avid bridge players beginning in the early 80s and today are among the top 200 bridge players in the Eastern Section of the American Bridge Association (yes, there is such an organization). They attend weekly bridge games and travel to bridge tournaments across the United States.
They have two daughters and sons-in-law, seven grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren. …and they lived happily ever after!
Here’s to the Smallwood’s celebrating their first 70 years and wishing them another 70 years together!
(side note: Did you notice throughout their story, that “church” was a central theme in everything that they did? Just a hought to those looking for a meaningful relationship, lol)
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