Photo by jill russell
BROWN’S POINT RESIDENTS ANNE AND CLAIR CLINE FREQUENTLY VISIT THE CITY OF FIFE’S SENIOR CENTER. They have been happily married for more than 60 years.
Their story seems like something straight out of Hollywood.
A beautiful, young nurse who falls in love with the handsome solider she cared for. But, this is no movie. This was the fate of Anne and Clair Cline, the Brown’s Point couple who will be celebrating their 67th Valentines’ Day as husband and wife.
“It seems like just yesterday when we met,” Clair said. “It really doesn’t seem like that long ago.”
The year was 1943 and Clair was a 26-year-old pilot in the U.S. Army Air Corps stationed at what was then known as McChord Field. He had fallen ill with influenza. Anne was a 24-year-old registered nurse at Tacoma General Hospital who treated him. Little did Clair know that the following year his caregiver would become his wife.
After more than 60 years of marriage the Clines, now in their 90s, smile when they think about how far they have come together.
“He’s been so helpful all these years and we get along so well,” Anne said. “He’s a good man.”
The couple has four children. Their son Rodger lives in Illinois and plays for the Chicago Symphony. Daughter Nancy is also musically inclined. She lives in Wisconsin and plays for her community’s local orchestra. Another daughter, Francie, is blind and does charity work in the Southeast Asian country, Brunei. Their daughter Virginia has stayed close to her parents. She lives in Milton with her family.
The Clines live in a Brown’s Point home that Clair built in the 1940s. However, they still make the effort to travel to the Fife Senior Center to have lunch and socialize with friends and community members. Clair continues to have many hobbies, one of which includes creating custom-built
wooden violins, which adorn the walls of their home.
Keeping that special spark lit in any marriage is no easy feat. And yet, the nurse and her solider seem to have found the key to maintaining their “happily-ever-after” through patience and compromise.
“I don’t think there is any secret to making marriage successful,” Anne said. “You just have to think about the other person before yourself.”
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