Lovers, not fighters

POST FALLS — George Rodkey has long had a fine baritone voice and to this day, the 97-year-old loves to sing.

“My voice is a little hoarse, but I do,” he said.

A song comes to mind as he sits next to his wife, Dorothy, at The Bridge, an assisted living facility in Post Falls.

“I still remember the song that was sung at our wedding,” he said, pausing.

Then it comes him.

“Through the Years,” he said. “It starts out, ‘Through the years, I’ll keep my place beside you.’ No, ‘Take my place,’ then it’s ‘Keep your place.’ ‘Remember everything I own is yours until love disappears and time ends, we’ll be in love.’ So it’s a great song.”

Dorothy doesn't speak, but gives her husband a loving glance.

Love has not disappeared for these two, who are celebrating their 75th wedding anniversary today.

When George reflects on being married more than seven decades, he sometimes “can hardly believe it.

“I just don’t pay any attention to time,” he said.

Then he adds, “It’s been an amazing ride with Dorothy. She’s been a wonderful wife and friend and mother.”

Dorothy, also 97, tries to speak but motions that her voice is weak.

“Seems like we’ve always been together,” she said. “He’s a very kind man, hard working.”

Wendy Wagoner, activities director at The Bridge, said a romantic dinner is planned for the couple tonight. They have lived there nearly seven years.

They were king and queen of The Bridge sweetheart ball two years ago.

“This man just loves his wife. It’s just so beautiful to watch,” she said. “The love they have for each other is incredible. They’re just a special couple.”

George and Dorothy met at Whitman College in Walla Walla, Wash., in the summer of 1943. He was in the V-12 Navy College Training program, which was “created to generate a large number of officers as well as to offset the dropping enrollment at colleges. Backed by the federal government."

The program paid tuition to participating colleges and universities for college courses that were taught to qualified candidates. 

George was studying to become a doctor and he said he and Dorothy had a chemistry lab together.

“Apparently, we had the right chemistry,” Dorothy liked to tell people.

George said it was more than that.

“We were almost instantly in love, I think,” he said.

George played the trombone in the Walla Walla symphony orchestra. He laughed as he recalled that Dorothy had a bicycle named “Gregory,” and he would ride it to rehearsal – while she sat on the handle bars holding the trombone.


Six kids, several moves and many vacations later, the Rodkeys are still together and very much in love.

So, let’s get to what everyone wants to know. What’s the secret of a long and happy marriage?

The Rodkeys smile. They know.

“Each person has to give 100 percent. If you give 50 percent, it’s not too good,” he said.

Before the 22-year-olds exchanged vows at the United Methodist Church in Caldwell — Dorothy’s hometown — they made a pledge: Once married, they would not go to sleep if either was upset with the other.

“We always tried to put the other person first,” George said. “She has been easy to live up to that pledge.”

He said many couples have friction that begins like it’s in the center of a pie. As time goes on, it spreads out and soon, it’s too late to do anything about it.

“We tried to prevent it from happening,” he said. “Not that we’re perfect, but we faithfully lived by that.”

They didn’t let mishaps keep them down, either.

George recalled coming on the train from Detroit to Spokane for the wedding and when he got there, couldn’t find the wedding band he bought for Dorothy.

No problem. He borrowed one.

After the ceremony, they drove away in the wrong car — without any of their luggage. So when they got to McCall, they didn’t have any other clothes and didn’t have the key for the friend’s cabin they were to stay in.

“We had nothing,” George said.

They found the cabin, though, and George removed a screen and climbed in a window.

It was so cold, they decided one night was enough and went to motel.

“It was much warmer,” he said.

He never did find that wedding band, so he bought another, which Dorothy wears to this day.

“If you look really hard with a microscope you might be able to see the diamond,” George said, laughing. “We didn’t have much money in those days.”

George graduated from Wayne State University in Detroit, interned at Swedish Hospital in Seattle and went on to a successful career in medicine. He also served with the Navy in the Korean War. Dorothy worked for a time as a technician at hospitals and later stayed home to care for their growing family. The couple moved to Spokane in 1957.

Even at 97, George is sharp and fit, which he attributes to a good diet, exercise and sleep, Dorothy has fought health problems, so George pushes her in her wheelchair when they go for walks.

A doctor asked George last year how long he expected to live. George found that a foolish questions.

“How do I know?” he said, grinning.

They credit their Christian faith with giving them a positive outlook, while admitting, “sometimes it’s a little bit hard.”

One thing is certain: They have been, are and always will be committed to each other.

“I think our love has grown, but it’s a different type of it. Love, I think is commitment," George said.

Wagoner later calls the Press with a message from George about the key to a happy marriage. He has thought of something that was important enough he felt it should be included in the story.

Here it is:

“When he was young, he learned it was better to love than fight.”