Mr. and Mrs. Peter Peterson, who will celebrate their 78th wedding anniversary next week, spend an evening with two great-grandchildren, Curtis, on left, and Kim Madsen. Record for U.S.? Utahns to Mark 78th Wedded Year By Jerry Full Tribune Staff Writer FAIRVIEW, Sanpete County - Have big family, lead a simple life and you, too, may live to receive congratulations on your 78th wedding anniversary. This is the way Mr. and Mrs. Peter Peterson of Fairview have lived. They will have been married 78 years Tuesday. It’s an established record for this region and it believed to be the longest period of married life for any living couple in the United States. Mr. Peterson was 96 on Sept. 27. Mrs. Peterson will be 96 on Dec. 28. Married in 1878 She was a girl of 17, he a sturdy farm boy of 18 on Dec. 11, 1878 when they recited their marriage vows in the LDS Temple in St. George. Thursday, holding hands in their old home in Fairview, they bask in the warmth of the love of four succeeding generations. They are the parents of 10 children of whom seven are living, 48 living grandchildren, 141 great-grandchildren and 24 great-great-grandchildren. Their eyes are keen and their smiles are warm for their many visitors. They help each other with the chores around their house - doing the dishes, fixing the meals, preparing the beds. And when they’re not busy, they sit by the range, reading the newspaper or listening to a news broadcast. Like Young Lovers Like young lovers, their hands reach out to each other as they sit together. Their minds are sharp and attentive. Mr. Peterson’s opinions show it: On television - “Oh, I don’t like it, the pictures are kind of fluttery.” On international relations - “I’m afraid it looks like war between us and Russia. I’m just selfish enough to hope it doesn’t happen here.” On marriage - “Get married young and have a large family.” On long life - “I’ve always lived on a farm and had farm food.” On newspapers - “Oh, they’ve got a lot more news in them than they used to.” On grandchildren, great and great - great - grandchildren - “They’re wonderful.” On honeymoons - “Our life together has just been one long happy honeymoon.” Though he was a farmer most of his life, he practiced “painless” dentistry for 10 years. “It was painless, all right,” he said. “It didn’t hurt me a bit.” His dentistry was of the old “find the bad tooth and yank it” variety. It’s been a busy and full life for the couple. They knew each other as schoolmates in the Civil War era. They knew each other as schoolmates in the Civil War era. They remember the sporadic Indian attacks on the town of Fairview, known then as North Bend. From 1887 to 1890, Mr. Peter- See Page 39, Col. 6 Fairview Couple to Observe 78th Wedding Anniversary Continued from Page 25 son was an LDS missionary in Virginia. “I remember them (the Virginians) telling me about the Civil War. If it was like they say it was, I don’t want any part of it.” Two years after his return, he was named bishop of the Indianola LDS Ward, serving there from 1892 to 1902. In 1902 they returned to Fairview and have made their home in that town ever since. Mr. Peterson took a horse team and wagon on his wedding trip to St. George. The eight-day trip back to Fairview from St. George was their honeymoon - an extremely rugged one, by modern standards. But, as Mr. Peterson observes, they’ve been enjoying their honeymoon for 78 years. Their devotion to each other wells over into their attitudes to others. After a long session of posing for pictures for The Tribune, Mrs. Peterson said, “It was so nice of you to come down here just to see us. I hope we didn’t inconvenience you.” And her sharp blue eyes were friendly and sympathetic as she spoke.