Audrey Gomez
Cleta and Herbert Fox celebrated their 65th wedding anniversary on Sept. 30.
They’ve known each other for 66 years, Herbert is quick to point out.
He knew Cleta was the one the first time he met her – at his cousin’s house in Arizona.
He was getting ready to go out and play pool. When he heard Cleta was going to see a school play, he changed his plans and joined her.
“I already fell in love with her,” Herbert said.
Cleta, 80, and Herbert, 84, have been together ever since.
“People used to get married young back in those days,” Herbert said.
“We married when we were kids,” Cleta said. “We raised each other, so no one else will have us,” she added with a laugh.
They’re both from Oklahoma but met in Arizona and got married in New Mexico.
In the early years of their marriage, the couple worked on farms, picking everything from cotton to strawberries, side by side. Cotton was the worst, they agree. But those were mostly good times.
“We had a lot of fun out in those fields,” Cleta said.
One year she out-picked Herbert – she picked 501 pounds; his record is 450 pounds. He also worked in Troutdale on a potato farm for seven years.
Throughout the years Cleta and Herbert have moved from Gresham, where they lived for 20 years, to Oklahoma, for 17 years, and back to Gresham again.
Herbert worked for the highway department in Oklahoma and at Columbia Brick for six years in Gresham. Cleta worked at No-Sag Spring Company for 11 years.
When Herbert retired in 1995, they bought a motor home and traveled for 5-1/2 years.
“You really meet some nice people in the RV parks,” Cleta said. “It was really a lot of fun.”
They settled in Sweet Home three years ago, at Wagon Wheel Mobilehome Park, because they had a niece in town.
“When we moved up here, she up and left,” Herbert chuckled.
The couple’s neighbor Sharon Saldana, 58, adopted them.
“I sure did!” Saldana confirmed. “They’re just delightful people, happy and easy going. They’re as sweet as can be; a really nice couple.”
Saldana regularly takes the Foxes shopping and wanted to do something special for their anniversary.
“Sharon took us to breakfast,” Cleta said. “She bought us a dozen red roses and lanterns.”
Saldana said the couple is precious to her.
Their 60th anniversary got some special attention on a national level.
Herbert’s sister, Linda Greg, wrote to President Obama about the occasion.
The president and first lady sent them a card of congratulations, which they still have.
Herbert’s sister has since passed away. He is one of eight siblings; one brother and one sister are still living.
Cleta is one of six children, of whom the youngest is 71 years old. They are all living. Her mother lived to be 94 years old, and her father died when he was 88 – of brain cancer. Cleta is a breast cancer survivor.
Long marriages run in Cleta’s family. All of her siblings stayed married to the same person throughout their lives, until death parted them.
“You have disagreements, no matter who you are with,” Herbert said. “I never left her and she never left me.”
Cleta’s advice for a long and happy marriage: “Every day, say ‘I love you.’ Never go to bed mad. If you get angry during the day, kiss and make up before bed.”