Couple shares more than five decades of love and laughter

Published 8:26 am Saturday, February 7, 2015

Louis and Nancy Hutcherson married June 13, 1961, and since then, they’ve had far more good times than bad.

Originally from Pennsylvania, the couple met when Nancy’s school was on a trip.

“Later on we ended up in the same college, Clarion University in Clarion, Pa.,” Louis said. “She came on campus with some other girls that were a class or two above her.”

Louis said she noticed Nancy right away, and one of the men he was sitting with at the table knew her brother and was able to tell him her name.

Nancy remembers it differently: “I was with a group of girls and in the cafeteria, I noticed four guys who walked in by themselves like they owned the school. I asked who they were, and they said the boys were football players, and Lou was the quarterback.

“He had an arrogant air. I didn’t like him — he was too cocky. But our friends maneuvered, and we were thrown together,” Nancy said.

Although Louis doesn’t remember their first date now, he related a story of when the two of them did go out.

“One time, it was the three of us (Louis, Nancy and a friend) and we went out to dinner. I was going to pay for her, and asked her what she wanted. She told me to order first.

“I ordered something like steak that was $15 and said to myself that she’s a little girl and won’t order what I’m ordering. She told the waitress, ‘I’ll have what he’s having, except I’ll drink tea.’

“I said to myself, ‘Oh my God, I’ve only got $20. How am I going to pay for this?’ I excused myself to go to the restroom and told the manager that I can’t afford to pay the bill. The guy said ‘don’t worry about it — we’ll cover it.’”

Louis said that although he’s about one and a half years older than Nancy, she helped him with some of his college classes even though she was only a freshman and hadn’t taken those classes herself.

After college, the two married and had five children. Nancy dropped out of college to tend to the children, and then she later went back and earned a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in education and early childhood education when their youngest child started daycare.

She became a grade school teacher and was a counselor at Clarion University.

Meanwhile, Louis entered law enforcement, a dangerous career field.

“We never talked about the danger,” Louis said. “One of the things they (training program officials) teach us about is self-confidence. You really don’t think about fear or anything like that.”

“It’s not a matter of getting used to it (the danger),” Nancy said. “He had wanted to be a state police officer. I supported that.”

The training program, Louis said, taught the officers to always approach a stopped vehicle with their hand on the weapon, or at night, to have a light shining.

“We knew that was part of the job, that kind of danger — walking up on a car. We would be cognizant of the fact that we might get shot or something else. But we’d just have to be very aware of what’s going on,” Louis said.

The job sometimes required undercover work in a different part of the state. He would often have to leave immediately and only call his wife to let her know he wouldn’t be coming home.

“There were a number of those situations, but she never complained about it,” Louis said. “She said that’s just part of the job.”

“I can’t remember ever getting angry about his job,” Nancy said. “I always had him. He touched base and kept in touch by phone when he was away, so the kids knew where daddy was.”

Louis was the first black state trooper in western Pennsylvania. Because of that, and because of Nancy’s fair African-American complexion, Louis had to face several investigations.

“The upper people in the state police and others assumed I was a white girl,” Nancy said. “The investigations didn’t affect our marriage. I looked at it as ignorance. He’s always basically been the same as he was, just Lou. The investigations were from small-minded people making rash judgments that proved to be wrong.”

Later in life, the couple bought property in Eatonton and became what Nancy described as “snowbirds.” When winter came, they moved south. In 2008, they maintained a permanent home in Georgia and stopped living part of the year in Pennsylvania. They are now members of Flagg Chapel Baptist Church where Louis is a deacon.

Later this year, the Hutchersons will celebrate their 54th year of marriage.

“We’ve been together the whole time,” Louis said. “It’s just like God said it was going to be (marriage), and it can be tough. My wife thinks she’s funny, but she isn’t.

“But we’ve had a good time over the years we’ve been married. We have five children who are all grown, three girls and two boys, and 11 grandchildren, eight grandsons and three granddaughters. And now we also have three great-granddaughters in Savannah.”

Louis said that some of their children have now gone through divorces, but that’s because it’s a different world now than when he and Nancy first married.

“I have nothing negative to say about marriage,” Louis said. “I tell them (engaged couples) that it’s a gift from God, but God never said it would be easy. Staying together is the best thing that can do, and there should be no secrets.”

He said younger couples don’t ask questions like they should and just try to work out problems for themselves.

“Children don’t come and ask ‘have you ever gone through this problem?’ like they did in my day,” Luis said. “We had people to talk to, like our mom, dad, preacher, grandma or something like that. Now they try to settle problems without asking.”

Louis said that couples sometimes can’t handle situations by themselves and should seek help. He believes that all problems can be overcome by speaking to someone older and more experienced in marriage.

But Louis also said God has had a hand in their life together.

“We haven’t been lucky — we’ve been blessed.”