1/11/07

60 years of true love at Lake Marion Nursing Facility
By Brian Jarvis

BRIAN JARVIS/Manning Times
Sammie and Sudie Ragin enjoyed their 60th wedding anniversary at the Lake Marion Nursing Facility. Standing is pastor Melvin Capers of Liberty Hill A.M.E. Church.

Sammie and Sudie Ragin celebrated a milestone last month that even the most optimistic newlyweds might despair of ever reaching: their 60th wedding anniversary.

“I’ve never seen a love like theirs in my life,” said Stacy McLeod, director of social services at the Lake Marion Nursing Facility (LMF). “He’ll tell you that she’s his one true love and it’s just like the first day they married. That’s why we wanted to do this.”

Sitting comfortably near a food spread of sandwiches, crackers and (of course) wedding cake, the couple enjoyed a day-long fest that drew in more than 50 friends and relatives from as far as New York and Baltimore.

Having moved in to LMF this past summer – Sammie in June followed by Sudie in July – the staff made accommodations to ensure they shared the same room.

“My main concern was his wife,” McLeod said. “My goal was to get them both here because I didn’t want her at home alone.”

According to McLeod, the couple settled right in and now they call her “their daughter.” McLeod responded in turn by taking it on herself to organize their anniversary celebration.

Both born and raised in Summerton, the couple decided to marry on Christmas Day, 1946 after a five-year courtship. Sammie Ragin served in the Navy during World War II and was a fireman in addition to working stints at Federal Mogul and North Pacific; Sudie was a cook at Manning Middle School.

So what’s the secret to making a marriage last 60 years?

“I can’t figure it out,” laughed Austin Gibson, one of Sudie’s brothers who was only a boy when his sister tied the knot. “I’ve got to find out how they do this.”

For the Ragins, however, the secret formula hardly need be a secret.

“You’ve got to be obedient,” explained Sammie, who noted Sudie’s baking skills – in particular pies and cakes – among her best attributes. “I don’t smoke and I don’t drink. You just find someone and be true to her. And she’s a good cook. She can’t do quite as good because she’s older, but she’s good.”

“He loves me,” Sudie added. “We’re in a good position and he treats me nice.”

The proud parents of two adopted sons, the couple also has five grandchildren. Previously one of their sons died in Vietnam while another died at childbirth.

“The fact that they’ve known each other for sixty years makes taking care of them easier. He’ll tell me something about her and she’ll tell me something about him,” said medical director and doctor David Gaines. “I want to drop the myth that this is a sad, gloomy place. People come here and they like it and enjoy it and have relationships with their families.”

“If I get sick and come back, I want to live here,” joked Robert Gibson, another of Sudie’s brothers.