Fifty Years, Still Going

Dorothy and Gene Kowalski marked their fiftieth wedding anniversary the same way they'd marked most things in their life -- with kielbasa, polka music, and an argument over the seating chart. Their children rented out the Lakeview Pavilion, strung up photographs from five decades, and watched their parents dance to the same song they'd played at their 1974 reception in a church basement in Worcester. Gene, now a retired electrician with opinions about everything from snow tires to sourdough, claimed he hadn't changed a bit. Dorothy, who taught third grade for thirty-one years at Foxborough Elementary, disagreed and named three specific instances. The guests voted with Dorothy. At the end of the night, Gene gave a toast so short it caught everyone off guard: 'She's the best decision I ever made, and she still doesn't believe me.' Dorothy didn't say anything. She just squeezed his hand. That was enough.