Stevensons celebrate 70 years of marriage

Longtime Canyon Lake residents Bill and Louise Stevenson are celebrating 70 years of marriage this month. They were wed at Louise’s family home in Aguanga, California on July 28, 1946 at a time when the country store owned and operated by Louise’s family (Carpenter) was about all there was to the town. Their home was on six acres behind the store.

Bill and Louise met at a VFW dance in San Jacinto after both had graduated in successive years from Hemet High School. They remained in the area four years while Bill did tractor work on local ranches and Louise had their first two of three children.

In 1950, they moved to El Monte and Bill went to work in plastering. Three years later, they moved to San Dimas, which is where their children,Dan, Grace and Barney, attended school. Louise was fortunate enough to be a stay-at-home mom so she could be involved in the kids’ many school, sports and church activities.

After their youngest entered high school, Bill left plastering to begin working in the athletic department at Cal Poly Pomona. Louise was ready to enter the work force and got a job with a company making Louis Vuitton Luggage.

They remained in those occupations for the next two decades until it was time to retire in 1989. The Stevensons had visited friends Marge and Ken Bishop and played golf in Canyon Lake; so, after they retired, Bill made an appointment with a realtor to look at houses here. They settled on a house on Continental Dr. with windows facing the Golf Course and moved here permanently in April 1994.

Bill joined the Men’s Golf Club, where they met many friends. Louise took up jewelry making and genealogical studies. In 2010, they were named “Sweetheart Couple of the Year” at the Men’s Golf Club Sweetheart Tournament.

These days, Louise enjoys Swedish weaving and Bill still plays golf. In fact, with their three children and their spouses in town to celebrate the anniversary next week, Bill plans to play golf with his sons in the morning. The couple will enjoy a quiet dinner in the evening with their three children and their spouses, along with Bill’s sister and niece and their spouses.

Their children are Dan and Betty of Las Vegas, Grace and Ed Glass of Priest River, Idaho, and Barney and Thuy of Henderson, Nevada.

The children would like to wish their parents – a loving, committed couple – a happy anniversary. Grace says, “It is great to see them so happy, acting like newlyweds. It’s hard to believe it’s 70 years!”




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