The Rochelle Community Hospital Foundation hosted a Valentine’s Brunch at The REC Center on Thursday for local couples who have been married for 50 years or more.
Twenty-three couples signed up for the event, which was held for the first time since 2020 and the COVID-19 pandemic. The event began in 2015, RCH Marketing, Foundation & Organizational Development Manager Michelle LaPage said.
“We really wanted to bring it back,” LaPage said. “It’s an event that everyone in the community loves and we love doing it. It connects the hospital back to a lot of people and the couples get to connect with each other and visit and see each other.”
Couples were welcomed to the event by RCH Foundation Board President Reed Harris. He praised those in attendance for their longstanding marriages.
“You have all been married 50 years or more and during those years, have built a home, raised a family and continued to grow in this and/or other communities,” Harris said. “By doing this you have acknowledged that it takes unity in action and in spirit to experience this ever-changing world and to make friendships that last and help you with this undertaking.”
Harris said RCH and its foundation have made and shown a commitment of a different kind to the Rochelle community.
“In recent years, we have continued to expand our services to help in many more essential ways,” Harris said. “In a different fashion than a marriage, we are connected and connecting with this community to affect a permanent, healthy relationship for many years to come.”
Dennis and Wynell Swinton attended the brunch, and have been married for 69 years since their wedding in December 1956. The couple recently welcomed a great-great-granddaughter. They said family and children are the secret to a long marriage, along with “give and take.”
The Swintons have moved 22 times during their marriage. They started in Rochelle in 1956 and moved in 1969 for Dennis’s work with Sears. After 30 years away, they came back home to Rochelle.
The Swintons’ advice to younger couples is to learn to agree to disagree, and get along.
“We can’t remember what our first Valentine’s Day was like,” Wynell Swinton said. “But I’m sure it went well, because here we are. We’re happy with all that we have.”
RCH CEO Karen Tracy spoke during the brunch on recent happenings at the hospital and updated attendees on the current expansion of its health and wellness building. LaPage said the brunch also serves to keep people informed about RCH and its services.
LaPage said she was happy to see couples catching up on Thursday after the event took a five-year hiatus.
“Community is in our name, so we strive to do different events like this,” LaPage said. “This is one of the special ones. It’s an easy, fun one for us to do. And we’re involved in a lot of other things in the community, too. At the hospital, we like to think of it as a family. And this is like our extended family. We like to bring everyone together.”