Larry and Sue Skeen were crowned King and Queen of the Golden Wedding Anniversary Party on Tuesday at the Clark County Fair as one of the longest married couples of Clark County. The Golden Wedding Anniversary Party is for couples in Clark County who have been married for 50 years or longer.
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More than 600 people attended the party.
“The party is just for people to come together and to celebrate that many years,” said Tracy Wickham of United Senior Services. “Because in this day and age, it’s kind of unusual.”
She also noted that the Kiwanis club was instrumental in helping United Senior Services put on the event.
The party has been thrown for the past 59 years.
Larry and Sue Skeen have been married for 73 years.
The Skeens, who are originally from Hillsboro, were married in Tipp City on Feb. 5, 1944. They lived in the same neighborhood when they were younger and both graduated from Hillsboro High School.
Larry Skeen went on to study mechanical engineering at Ohio State University. Sue Skeen was pretty sure she was going to marry Larry Skeen, but not until he graduated from college and had a job. She said she can’t remember how he proposed but knows he asked her parents first.
“Of course, they’d known him for as long as I had so it wasn’t any problem,” she said.
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Larry Skeen worked for Bauer Brothers for 40 years, where he was the assistant chief engineer.
Sue Skeen took care of the home and also taught sewing at Singer for almost 20 years. She enjoyed sewing so much that she made suits for her husband to wear to work. She made both of the outfits they wore to the anniversary party on Tuesday. Sue Skeen also judged the fancy work projects at the Clark County Fair, which included sewing, knitting and crocheting, for almost 20 years.
They have two kids, four granddaughters and six great-grandchildren.
Over the years, they can’t recall any major disagreements.
“Oh, we’d have a fuss, naturally, like everyone does,” Sue Skeen said. “But we always settled it. We didn’t let it fester.”
“She always just let me be boss, I just went with it,” Larry Skeen said.
“That’s true. I just felt that he was boss,” Sue Skeen added. “I’d argue with him sometimes, but not to the point that we would fight.”
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