Gene and Clara Hodkin of Barstow, Calif., will observe their 70th wedding anniversary on Saturday, reports the Contra Costa Times.
And their history goes up and down the Mother Road.
Gene, 93, and Clara, 87, were childhood sweethearts when they were married just before midnight by a justice of the peace in Carthage, Mo., where they grew up.
They were married on Route 66 – they lived there, had their first child there, and when they moved to Barstow in 1952, continued their connection to The Mother Road in their new home.
“We practically lived our whole life on Route 66, Gene recalls. “We traveled it a lot to visit relatives back in Missouri.”
The Route 66 link goes even further. Their daughter-in-law, Deborah Hodkin, is curator for the Barstow Route 66 Mother Road Museum.