DEWITT, Mich. — Some love stories don’t need a lot of words. Sometimes they just need one kiss and two hands that still reach for each other after 70 years.
Lloyd and Marjorie Ballard from DeWitt are the kind of neighbors who’ve quietly helped shape their community for decades. And their love story goes all the way back to eighth grade.
"This girl came running out of the house," recalls Lloyd. "I remember she had on red lip stick. Larry Martin, this kid I knew from school was there. I said to Larry, ‘do you know who that girl is.’ He said, ‘Yea, it's Marjorie Miller who lives 2 miles north of town.’ I said, ‘She is the most beautiful girl I've ever seen."
That’s not a line. That’s a memory he never lost.
Lloyd and Marjorie met again in high school. And Lloyd thought this is it.
"I took her to the senior prom, and I asked her to go steady with me. She said, no," Lloyd says with a smile.
She said no. And somehow the story still wasn’t over.
Lloyd went off to Germany in the army after and didn't come home for a few years. Then, they met again when he was 21 and started dating.
"Her mom and dad, I wasn't their favorite man."
"we don't have to talk about that," Marjorie says.
Seventy years later Marjorie still knows exactly when to redirect the conversation.
And when Lloyd decided he was ready to ask her to be his forever he didn’t exactly get the chance to finish the question.
"I was so excited I was giving her that ring. Before we made it to the curve in the road, she already unwrapped it and put it on. I never asked her if she wanted it, she just took it."
Not “will you.” Just “we are.”
“ I fell in love with her. To this day, she is the most beautiful girl I ever met."
Marjorie chips in, "I stood by him all these years. I guess," Marjorie laughs, "there was so magic someplace. He has had to put up a lot with me, and I've put up a lot with him, so.”
Together, Lloyd and Marjorie have raised 11 children. Eight girls and three boys. They lost one child, a heartbreak that never really leaves a parent. But their love kept going and their family kept growing.
They have 34 grandkids and twenty plus great-grandkids.
They were married January 14, 1956.
Seventy years later, the most powerful part of their story might be the simplest.
They’re still here. Still holding hands. Still choosing each other.
That’s why Lloyd and Marjorie Ballard are this week’s Good Neighbors because they remind all of us of what it looks like when love becomes a life and a life becomes a legacy.
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