Love Lessons

For the past 27 years of their nearly 40-year marriage, Patricia and Alton have written each other love letters every day. That adds up to over 20,000 love letters—more than 105 pounds of love!

The idea to write letters every day originated with Alton after they attended a Marriage Encounter® weekend—a program that teaches couples how to make good marriages better by improving communication. "We had written love letters spasmodically for several months," Alton says. "But I could tell from the love letters that it wasn't getting everything across I had seen in the couple that had taught us."

Their communication broke down after they lost a child and Patricia says she even considered leaving Alton. "When we talked, I cried … and he didn't like to see me cry. And so, he didn't want to talk about it. And I took his not talking about it as he didn't care," Patricia says. "It was about that time we started writing our letters, and it pulled us back together."