Courtesy Photo Joan and Curtis Eagle smile for a photo while celebrating their platinum anniversary at Fireside Inn at Grand Lake, with family.

ALPENA — Curtis and Joan Eagle are a rare pair, marking their 70th wedding anniversary, along with a small percentage of the U.S. population.

Only 0.1%, or one out of 1,000 couples, make it to their platinum anniversary, which is 70 years, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The high school sweethearts married on June 26, 1954 at First United Methodist Church in Alpena.

They now reside together at Turning Brook Retirement Community in Alpena. Curtis is 90 and Joan is 88. Wednesday will be her 89th birthday.

The couple recently celebrated the milestone at the Fireside Inn at Grand Lake, one of their favorite places, with family.

Courtesy Photo Joan and Curtis Eagle enjoy a sweet moment while dancing at a special event. The couple just celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary.

“My parents moved up here when I was 10, and he lived here all of his life,” Joan Eagle said. “I lived on Werth Road, and he lived on 3rd Avenue. So, I went to country schools, and he went to city schools.”

She explained how they met at Alpena High School.

“He was a monitor, and I flirted,” Joan said. “I was 15, and he was 16.”

“As soon as I met her, I kept her,” her husband said, adding, “She’s a precious little twerp.”

That’s a term of endearment for him. He alternates between calling her his precious little twerp and his precious little girl.

Courtesy Photo Pictured, from back left, are Craig Hendricks, Shiela Hendricks, and Bradley Eagle. Seated in front are Joan and Curtis Eagle, celebrating their 70th anniversary at Fireside Inn at Grand Lake.

“On our first date, he asked me to go to the prom,” Joan said. “I said, ‘Can I let you know?’ And he went home and told his mother, ‘She’s waiting for a better offer.’ He’s the only offer I got!”

She said she was actually waiting to find a formal dress to wear.

“I didn’t have a formal,” she said. “One of my girlfriends stood up for quite a few weddings, and one of her formals fit me.”

She recalled what his mother said.

“His mother, in her wisdom, said, ‘Don’t you think she doesn’t have a formal? She has to find one before she can say “yes” to you,'” Joan said. “She was a pretty smart cookie. I admired her. I always wanted to be a good mother-in-law like she was.”

Joan and Curtis Eagle, June 26, 1954

She recalled another memory, this time about Ella White — the person, not the school, which was named after Ella White herself.

“When I was in the eighth grade, I had to be confirmed at Lutheran church,” Joan said.

So, she spent the year living with her Aunt Gladys.

“Ella White lived next door,” Joan said. “So, when I graduated from high school, she gave me a sequined little purse with a chain on it … She was a nice old lady.”

Joan explained the secret to a lasting marriage.

Curtis Eagle

“Know when to give up a fight,” she said with no hesitation. “We’re both first-borns … When I know that I’m not going to win this fight, I give it to him. When he knows he’s going to not win the fight with me, he gives it to me.”

“We’ve never had any fights, anyway,” Curtis said with a laugh.

Joan said he’s got quite the sense of humor, and he has excellent manners.

“He’s always a gentleman,” Joan said. “He always opened the car door for me. Always helped me up the steps. Always laced up my ice skates.”

She said she knew he was the one on their first or second date.

Joan Brilinski

“He was just such a gentleman, and so much fun,” Joan said. “He tried to polka, and he couldn’t. I loved to polka. My dad was an excellent polka dancer.”

Curtis said he also knew she was the one for him, right from the beginning.

“I loved her, right off the bat,” he said. “Still do. Now, I love her more, of course.”

When asked what he likes about Joan, Curtis said, “Everything.”

“She’s a precious little squirt,” he said. “She’s a good girl, and I love her. She’s pretty, too.”

“He used to sing ‘Beautiful, Beautiful Brown Eyes’ to me,” Joan recalled.

Their children chimed in about their parents’ relationship.

“I just think that seeing them make it this far is such an inspiration,” said their daughter, Shiela Hendricks. “We know, obviously, they fought. Marriage is hard — ups and downs, but sticking with it and making it is such a wonderful thing. It’s such a legacy they’ve left.”

The pair has always had a strong Christian faith.

While dating, they attended church together all the time.

“We would hold hands in church,” Joan said. “I was Lutheran, he was Methodist.”

“They’ve been very involved in Youth for Christ and Gideons, for years,” said their son, Bradley Eagle. He added they have also been involved in mission trips.

“He was a Gideon, and I was a Gideon wife,” Joan said. “And we both worked with Youth for Christ. And we’d go on hayrides at McDonald’s Farm … and we’d have, sometimes, 30 kids.”

She added that they put on gatherings and activities for the Youth for Christ group, sometimes at the Parker House.

“We’d have our little Christian prom there,” Joan recalled.

“I was a housewife,” Joan explained. “He worked at Besser, Abitibi, and HPC, at different years. And we decided to open our our company up, Eagle Engineering, in 1969.”

Their son, Bradley Eagle, now runs the company.

Curtis was a mechanical engineer. He had incredible work ethic, his son-in-law Craig Hendricks said.

He was working two jobs, working on starting a business, and fixing up their house at the same time, working from dawn to dark and even into the night, at times.

“You don’t see that kind of work ethic anymore,” Craig Hendricks said.

“He’s also got a lifelong passion for boating,” Craig Hendricks said of his father-in-law. “They’ve been boaters their entire life.”

As time went on, they kept upgrading to bigger boats, he added.

“A lot of people call (Curtis) ‘Captain’ because he’s been a boater his whole life,” Craig Hendricks said of his father-in-law. “This one, and the one before, they brought all the way from the Gulf of Mexico to Alpena, by water,” he added about the boats.

“It’s quite the trip,” Shiela Hendricks said.

As for Joan, she enjoys knitting, crocheting, and especially quilting. She also used to be a soprano in community choirs, and performed solos at churches and weddings.

In addition to Shiela Hendricks and Bradley Eagle, the couple’s eldest son is Curtis William Eagle, who lives in Ohio. They also have nine grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.

When asked if the past 70 years have been blissful, Curtis Eagle said, “It was all good. She’s my precious little girl. We never had a problem.”

“My grandma said, ‘Never let the sun go down on your marriage, with anger,'” Joan added. “If we had an argument in front of the kids, we always said ‘I’m sorry’ in front of the kids, too, so they know.”

Joan said they always knew they would stay together, through thick and thin. She hopes newlyweds understand that marriage takes work and compromise, but that it is always worth it.

Their children said they have been excellent role models for their family, and all of them have stayed married, following in their parents’ footsteps.

Shiela Hendricks took after her mother, becoming a vocalist, and her brothers, Curtis William and Bradley, both became engineers, like their father. Bradley is also a Gideon, just like his dad.

“One of the biggest things is their faith,” Shiela added. “They led us to the Lord … It makes a solid foundation. We’ve all stayed married, and following the Lord, too.”