A loving couple who have been married for 84 years are making headlines in their home state of Arkansas and across the nation for their happy and loving relationship that has stood the test of time.
Arwilda Whiteside, 98, and her husband, Cleovis, 102, were born in the same Arkansas county and lived a few towns apart from each other. They first met in a chance encounter on the street when they were just 9 and 13 years old respectively.
Today, the couple lives in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, and have just celebrated their 84th wedding anniversary and credit God for eight decades of togetherness.
“Our secret is the Bible,” Ms. Whiteside told The Epoch Times. “I’m not going to bed without reading the Bible.”
A Lifetime of Togetherness
Mr. Whiteside’s stepbrother, Elmo, first brought the couple together. Elmo was mentally handicapped and as a teen would often run up to girls and grab their hands. Running an errand for her mother one day, Ms. Whiteside, who was then 9 years old, saw Elmo on the street and heeded a friend’s advice to “run to his brother for protection.” She ran straight to her future husband.At that time, Mr. Whiteside, who was 13, told her that he was going to marry her one day, the couple’s daughter, 74-year-old registered nurse Kathy Whiteside-Sims, said.
However, that was not the only time they met as children. As fate would have it, the couple was also in the same classroom at school, with Ms. Whiteside being ahead of her age.
To prove his worthiness to his future wife, Mr. Whiteside once bought her a boxed supper at a church event where he'd worked to save 40 cents.
“[H]e had made up his mind this was going to be his wife, and he was going to marry her, and when she finished eighth grade, they [got] married,” Ms. Whiteside-Sims said.
Mr. and Ms. Whiteside, aged 17 and 13, tied the knot on July 24, 1939, at the Whiteside family’s 80-acre farm late at night, under the cover of darkness. A storm disrupted their wedding day, and as a result, the minister couldn’t make it until late.
Building a Life
The newlyweds worked on the family farm for some time before moving onto nearby Pettigrew Farm to work as sharecroppers. Mr. Whiteside was drafted into the military after the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. He was separated from his wife–their only separation through the years–until his return four years later.Honorably discharged, he applied to study auto mechanics at Arkansas Agricultural, Mechanical & Normal College in Pine Bluff under the G.I. Bill, but, in a time before household telephones and the internet, he had no way of informing his family that he'd been accepted.
“They accepted him that day and told him he had to start school that day. He couldn’t go back home,” the couple’s daughter said. “It was almost two weeks later when they knew what had happened to Daddy.”
After moving their expanding family to Pine Bluff, the Whitesides bought 5 acres of land in a rural area, plus a property in the city so that their children could attend a good school. In 1970, they bought more land and built a new home.
Ms. Whiteside-Sims said: “[Mom] was mostly a stay-at-home wife. She worked when they first moved, while Dad was in school. They worked at a restaurant. ... She took care of the menu, and Daddy worked as a cook.”
Mr. Whiteside had plenty of strings to his bow. He was a piano player, a dry cleaner, a tailor, and worked at the Pine Bluff Arsenal in the early fifties through college, later becoming a foreman. He quit after one of his friends suffered a fatal accident, and worked in security as a lieutenant until his retirement at the age of 65.
Ms. Whiteside was equally talented.
‘A Big Happy House’
The couple welcomed 12 children, six girls and six boys, and as lifelong members of the church choir, they were surrounded by gospel music. “We are so grateful to God, for our children,” Ms. Whiteside said.“In our house, you went to church every Sunday,” Ms. Whiteside-Sims said. “We were the first ones there, because Daddy opened the church, and most likely we were the last ones to leave because he would lock up.
“You saw their faith in God if it was only giving to everybody, to anybody; the amount of people that came and lived with us in our house. We had cousins that came and lived with us in order to attend college here in Pine Bluff, and shared our beds ... it was just a big, happy house for all the kids in the neighborhood.”
Mr. and Ms. Whiteside helped everyone they could, from friends and neighbors to the Girl and Boy Scouts, even running an annual Christmas gift drive, and Ms. Whiteside once even helped to deliver a neighbor’s baby.
“During October and November they would have a ‘Make a Difference Day’ at the church,” Ms. Whiteside-Sims said. “Up until the pandemic, Mama was still getting all the kids ... making all kinds of things to enter into competitions and to the state fair. ... And my dad raised gardens up until about two years ago ... watermelons, corn, and all that stuff, he would raise it for people to come and get it.
“They have done a lot, and they’ve done a lot together.”
To this day, the elderly couple calls with one of their daughters—who is paralyzed—every single night to sing to her.
Life-Long Love
At the time of writing, the Whitesides have nine surviving children, 53 grandchildren, 116 great-grandchildren, and 29 great-great-grandchildren. According to Ms. Whiteside-Sims, seven siblings were veterans just like their father.The Whitsides’ longevous marriage has infused their tight-knit family with the utmost respect for partnership, and many marvel at the strength of the love they share among themselves.
Ms. Whiteside-Sims said: “Something my brother-in-law used to say, he said, ‘Tell your mama to quit sitting next to your daddy, he’ll be tired of sitting next to her after all these years!'”
However, the couple sits close for a reason, as they are home to one another.
“When my dad was in the hospital last year, he started crying,” their daughter said. “My sister had to sneak my mom into the hospital, so she could see him ... that was the only time he got calm.”
Growing up, Ms. Whiteside-Sims said she learned a lot of life lessons witnessing their long-standing relationship. Some of them include: acquiesce to your partner; you can argue, but not in front of the kids; respect the man’s role in the family.
And, ultimately, the couple has kept God at the center of life, love, and raising a family.
