| Couple Celebrate 80 Years of Love, Sweet Love
By Tina Ramos-Ingold Daily
Bulletin City News Rancho Cucamonga, April 9, 1998 |
Chaffey High School Alumni Married April 08, 1918
|
In a time when divorce is common, Harold and Mabel Stewart are the exception to
the rule. Today, the Ontario couple is
celebrating 80 years of wedded bliss. What's their secret?
| "I don't know honey," Mable Stewart said when asked
the question. "Agreeing, I guess." Maybe you can add togetherness to
that. For eighty years the couple did nearly everything together. They traveled
around the world and throughout the United States. He hiked mountains while she
sat outside their car and painted. |
Chaffey High School Alumni
after 80 years of marriage (1998) |
Separate rooms at Inland Christian Home in Ontario haven't stopped that
connection, either. They watch television together, either in her bedroom or
his, surrounded by photos of their lives together, said Irene Belca, who takes
care of they couple. "They are always holding hands," Belca said.
"It's sweet."
|
Senior Picture from the
Chaffey High School
1912 FASTI Yearbook
|
Their August birthdays are even close, just four days apart. Harold
will turn 104 August 24 while Mabel will hit 102 August 28. They met while
attending Chaffey High School in Ontario. Mabel
couldn't really recall how they met, except for one tidbit. "I got into his
car on Euclid Avenue," she said
with a laugh. Belca then explained how Harold one day had offered Mabel a ride
home, since the two didn't live that far apart. Love blossomed and the two
became engaged. The wedding had to wait until after World War I, however,
because Harold had enlisted in the U.S. Army. |
Finally, on April 8, 1918, the couple married in Ontario. They eventually
settled into the Stewart homestead on Sixth Street in Ontario and raised a son,
Walter, and a daughter, Ruth. There were five grandchildren and seven
great-grandchildren. Walter now lives in Upland and Ruth Steward Crawford lives
in Rancho Cucamonga.
Harold, who graduated from Stanford University with a degree in geology,
maintained the family citrus business and became a community leader, said Maggie
Stewart, his daughter-in-law. Harold was president of the Stewart Citrus
Association in Upland. He also served more than 30 years on the board of
directors for the San Antonio Water Co.; 29 years on the Upland Lemon Growers
Board and 15 years with the San Bernardino Country Farm Bureau.
Harold's civic activities included serving on the San Antonio Community
Hospital board of directors for 25 years. He was also active with the Ontario
Rotary Club, West End United Way and the Ontario-Upland YMCA board of directors.
Mabel Stewart was just as active in projects involving their two children. A
coloratura soprano, she sang at the Ontario First Methodist Church and at area
special events and appeared in many leading roles on the light and grand opera
stages of Los Angeles, said Maggie Stewart.
The Indiana-born Mabel readily recalled her first singing "gig." It
happened while on a train ride with her family from Indiana to Canada when she
was just a young girl. "I stood in the aisle and sang," she said.
"Then they gave me money. That was the first money," she added,
laughing.
Today, the couple plan to celebrate their 80th wedding anniversary
with a huge cake, surrounded by family and friends. "It doesn't happen to
too many people." Walter Stewart said of his parents' anniversary.
"It's quite delightful." |
