Harold Hoyle Hill, Sr., and his beloved wife Edna Elizabeth Hunter

Hill are celebrating their 60th wedding anniversary on Dec. 26, 2010.

Although their families owned neighboring farms near Laurens, S.C., they

didn't meet until after Harold had left The Citadel to serve in the

U.S. Army toward the end of World War II, and while Edna was a student

at Winthrop College. Thus began a three and a half year courtship, and

they married on the day after Christmas in 1950. Their family members

were notorious for wedding pranks, so Harold and Edna planned the escape

route carefully and even had a local policeman handcuff them together,

ensuring they couldn't be separated. Their scheme worked, and they're

still happily together 60 years later.<0x00A0>

Harold and Edna have lived most of their married life in Mount

Pleasant, S.C., where they raised four children: Marie (Bob Nichols),

Beth (Rick Brawner), Hal (Mary Kay), and Hunter (Susan). A nephew, Lewis

"Buddy" Hughes (Libby), was always considered to be one of their own as

well. Harold, a 1949 Furman University graduate, retired in 1991 after

39 years with Moore Business Forms. Edna, a 1950 Winthrop College

graduate, retired the same year from many years of full- and part-time

teaching. They have since stayed busy with church and family activities,

volunteering with the Gideon's Bible distributions, and delivering

meals to home-bound individuals. Avid parlor game fans, they enjoy

playing Setback, Pinochle, and Scrabble and have taught their grandkids

to play, hoping to do the same with two (soon to be three)

great-grandkids.

During Thanksgiving week of this year, all 27

immediate family members gathered to celebrate Harold and Edna's

milestone. An Upstate reception was held on Dec. 11 at the Hunter

Homeplace in Ora, S.C., and a Lowcountry celebration will be on Dec. 26

at Sullivan's Island Baptist Church.

Harold and Edna continually

draw strength from their Christian faith, and offer kindness and

generosity to everyone they meet in their community and beyond. They are

an inspiration to all family members, who join them in celebrating 60

wonderful years together. Congratulations!