Marriage series: 50 years of marriage and still going strong

Recent research shows that fewer Americans are marrying, and those who do, choose to do it later in life. This is the first of a three-part series.

By MACKENZIE ISSLER
Recorder Staff

NORTHFIELD — On a cool and sunny autumn day, 17-yearold Kay Lombard put on her white wedding gown of chantilly lace. Her short, dark brown hair was fastened with a flowing, translucent veil.

The church was decorated with baskets of chrysanthemums, fall foliage and potted greens. It was Oct. 22, 1960.

At 3:30 p.m. that day, Lombard picked up her bouquet of white roses, stephanotis and ivy, and walked down the aisle to marry her finance, 23-yearold Harold Snow. Snow waited at the end of the aisle, dressed in a black tuxedo with a white rose boutonniere and black bow tie.

The two said their “I dos” and set off on their week-long honeymoon. Since then, they have raised three children together and have watched them have families of their own. The couple celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary last October and now are “going on 75 years,” joked Mr. Snow.

But, since the two were married five decades ago, opinions about dating, marriage, cohabitation and spousal responsibilities have changed and evolved — some say for the better and others, for the worse.

Taking notice that 72 percent of all adults in the country were married in 1960 and, by 2008, the number had dropped to just 52 percent, the Pew Research Center did research and compiled a report, asking several intriguing questions, like:

◆ Is marriage becoming obsolete?

◆ How much have gender roles within marriage changed?

◆ When it comes to marriage, does love trump money?

The Pew report, done in association with Time magazine, compiled its report after conducting a nationwide survey of 2,691 adults from Oct. 1 to 21, 2010 and including in its analysis half a century of demographic and economic data, drawn mainly from the U.S. Census.

Nearly four in 10 of the survey respondents (39 percent) said that marriage is becoming obsolete. Back in 1978, when Time magazine posed the same question to registered voters, just 28 percent agreed.

Those most likely to agree included those who are part of the phenomenon, 62 percent of cohabiting parents, as well as those most likely to be troubled by it (42 percent of selfdescribed conservatives).

Part of the decline may be explained by the average age at which men and women first marry — it’s now the highest ever recorded.

Also, part of the decline can be attributed to the near tripling of the group that is currently divorced or separated — to 14 percent in 2008 from 5 percent in 1960.

Greenfield man to distribute free fuel in Japan

By MACKENZIE ISSLER
Recorder Staff

This morning, Greenfield resident Bob Picariello boarded a flight to Tokyo, Japan, with his final destination being Ishinomaki, a city heavily hit by the recent earthquake and tsunami.

Picariello, 64, is traveling with and is on the board of the nonprofit, Fuel Relief Fund, which is now distributing heating fuel in Ishinomaki and Onagawa, a city and town in the Miyagi prefecture, where thousands are estimated to have died and are still missing after the two natural disasters.

The fuel distribution is now being manned by the nonprofit’s chairman, Ted Honcharik, a fuel distributor from southern California.

Honcharik will stay with Picariello for a few days after he arrives to show him the ropes, but then he will be departing, leaving the operation to Picariello and a translator. He will be in Japan for three weeks to distribute oil. If there is time left and no money left for oil, Picariello plans to find a carpentry crew to work with. Picariello has spent half of his career in the building trades and the other half as a counselor.

Fuel Relief Fund began donating and distributing heating fuel in Japan on March 24, where temperatures in the northeast region drop below freezing at night. The kerosene is being mostly used in small heaters. The nonprofit is giving out 2.5 gallons to each person and has already served hundreds of people, Picariello said.

Picariello first met Honcharik when he was doing relief work in Haiti weeks after the devastating earthquake there. This spurred another trip to Haiti for Picariello, this time with Fuel Relief Fund, where he helped deliver fuel to areas within 50 miles of Port-au-Prince, the country’s capital.

American tsunami victim had family from Greenfield, Mass

By ZINIE CHEN SAMPSON and
MACKENZIE ISSLER
Associated Press and Recorder Staff

GREENFIELD — A 24-yearold English teacher from Virginia, whose body was discovered in the wreckage of the Japan tsunami, had roots in Greenfield.

Taylor Anderson may be the first known American victim in the Japanese disaster, as authorities continue the daunting task of finding and identifying more than 13,000 people believed to be missing.

Her mother, Jean Anderson, whose maiden name is Behaylo, graduated from Greenfield High School in 1976 and her father, Andy Anderson, also attended the town’s high school, according to school officials.

Her maternal grandparents, Frederick and Alice Behaylo, who are now both deceased, were lifelong residents of Greenfield.

Her paternal grandparents were Leroy and Lora Anderson, who also lived in Greenfield before moving to Virginia after his place of employment, Millers Falls Tool Co., closed down in the early 1980s.

Anderson’s family said in a statement that the U.S. Embassy in Japan called them Monday to tell them she was found in Ishinomaki, a city about 240 miles north of Tokyo. “We would like to thank all those whose prayers and support have carried us through this crisis,” said Andy and Jean Anderson, who now live in Chesterfield County south of Richmond.

“Please continue to pray for all who remain missing and for the people of Japan. We ask that you respect our privacy during this hard time.”

Taylor Anderson has a brother, Jeffrey, and sister, Julia.

Jean Anderson said her daughter was last seen after the earthquake, riding her bike away from an Ishinomaki elementary school after making sure parents had picked up their children. A tsunami struck shortly after the earthquake, completely wiping out homes and other structures.

Friends and relatives used Facebook and other social networks to spread the word about the search for Taylor. Officials first told the family last Tuesday that their daughter had been located, but the Andersons learned that night that the information was incorrect.

Taylor Anderson had a lifelong love of Japan and began studying the language in middle school. She moved overseas after graduating from Randolph-Macon College in 2008 to teach in the Japan Exchange and Teaching Programme.

She taught in eight schools in Ishinomaki, in the Miyagi prefecture on Japan’s northeast coast. During her stay there she developed a love for her students and for the Japanese people, her mother said.

She was scheduled to return to the United States in August.

“What we can do to honor Taylor’s memory is by doing what she gave her life for, that is, reaching out to the Japanese people, in tangible ways,” said the Rev. Dorothy White, director of religious studies at St. Catherine’s School. Anderson graduated from its high school in 2004.

The school was planning a Japan-relief service project in her honor, White said.

Others said they missed her down-to-earth personality and smile. She liked the band Barenaked Ladies, J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Lord of the Rings,” and “Buffy the Vampire Slayer.”

Anderson was a “low-key, easygoing, sometimes bubbly, always warm young woman with a lively mind and a generous heart,” said English teacher Derek Kannemeyer, who was her adviser when she was co-editor of the St. Catherine’s literary magazine.

Kannemeyer stayed in touch with Anderson after she graduated and said she possessed intellectual curiosity and a bright, lively mind. “That she took these strengths and went out into the broader world to live a life of engagement and caring about other people, and of exploration, of discovery — is just what teachers hope their students will do.”

Officials with U.S. Embassy in Japan and the State Department could not immediately confirm whether she was the first known U.S. victim in Japan. Another 25-year-old man is presumed dead after being swept into the ocean March 11 by a swell from the tsunami on the northern California coast.

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