Grandma & Grandpa: A Grandparent's Day Love Story

68 YEARS AGO, THEY SAID “I DO” ❤️

A Grandparents Day Love Story

I first shared this story in the St. Francis Xavier Church bulletin, where I am the copy editor.  It's too good not to share here as well.  I hope you enjoy. ☺️

In celebration of Grandparents Day, I wanted to share a love story very close to my heart—that of my grandparents, Patty and Bob Shutler, who would have celebrated their 68th wedding anniversary this weekend, September 13, 2026.

Their story has been part of the backdrop of my entire life, but this week I had the great honor of sitting down with Grandma and hearing her tell it herself, with so much love still in her heart.

Patty and Bob grew up on neighboring farms and attended St. Joseph Catholic Church and its little two-room country schoolhouse. They first met there as children in the first grade, and a friendship began that would last a lifetime.

Farm life wasn't easy. They milked cows, raised animals, worked in the garden and hayfields, and learned the value of hard work from an early age. Grandma walked a mile to school beginning at just seven years old, and trips into town for the family were usually limited to once a month for necessities.

After dating for a few years, Patty and Bob decided to marry at just 20 years old. On a beautiful, sunny September 13, 1958, they were married at St. Joseph—the same church where they had attended Mass and received their sacraments as children.

Their beloved Fr. Krause, an animal lover himself, even insisted they ride one of his ponies to the church. Grandma still laughs remembering Father looking at the two of them and saying, “They're just like the Holy Family!”

After the ceremony, their families gathered for lunch at Grandma's home, followed by a reception in the church hall with a live band and square dancing. Then the newlyweds climbed into the car and headed south for their honeymoon—with no real plan at all! They traveled through southern West Virginia, Virginia, and Kentucky before returning four days later to farm work and married life.

Their early years together brought plenty of adventure. In 1961, Grandpa was drafted into the U.S. Army. After his training, he was stationed at Fort Hood, Texas. A few months later, Grandma packed just three boxes and boarded the train for Texas because, to Grandma, home wasn't a place—it was wherever Grandpa was.

During the Cuban Missile Crisis, Grandpa prepared for the possibility that he would be sent away while Grandma was seven months pregnant. Thankfully, that call never came, and soon they returned home to West Virginia to begin their next chapter.

They became parents to two sons, Bob and David, and raised their boys with the same things that had shaped their own childhoods: family, hard work, farm life, and faith. Saturdays were for work on the family farm. Sundays were for family and Mass at St. Joseph Church.

Looking back now, Grandma says simply, “It was a good life. At the time, we didn't know how good it was.”

They may not have had much, but they had each other—and they were rich in all the ways that mattered.

Grandpa passed away on June 13, 2022, surrounded by the family he and Grandma had built together. But the love story that began between two little first-graders in a country schoolhouse didn't end that day.

It lives on in their children, 7 grandchildren, 9 great-grandchildren (with one on the way!), the stories we tell—and in Grandma's heart.

Thank you, Grandma and Grandpa, for showing us that a beautiful life isn't measured by how much stuff you have, but by how deeply you love, how faithfully you live, and who you choose to walk beside through it all. ❤️