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Lula and Abel Chappell first met when she was almost 15 and he was 18. They were married in 1951 and celebrated their 73rd anniversary on Dec. 20. They have eight children, 24 grandchildren, and 50 great-grandchildren.

They first met in 1950 when they were both working in a cotton field. Lula was about to turn 15, and said everyone in the field was invited to her party. Abel said he would be there, and from then on they started seeing each other regularly. They had a very intimate wedding the next year in Scotts County, Missouri at their preacher’s house with only him and his wife. 

As a couple they’ve lived in Missouri, Washington, California, and now Virginia. Abel joined the Army as a truck driver in 1953 and served two years in Washington. After his time in the Army, they moved back to Missouri, where they started their family. Their favorite place though, Lula said, was California, where they lived for over 50 years. 

One of their daughters, Patricia Simms, also fondly remembered their time in California. She said her mom worked as a hotel housekeeper and her dad was a pastor and worked for Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation. The town they lived in was mostly military and retirees, and because Lula worked at a hotel, she met a lot of young soldiers and would help them by letting them stay at their house.

“A lot of them didn’t have places to live and she was always bringing people home, especially for the holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas,” Simms said. “On several occasions, people have stayed in the house with their kids and their wife until they were able to find a place.”

Lula and Abel ended up with their eighth child through her work at the hotel as well. Simms said one of her mom’s coworker’s friends had a baby and wasn’t able to keep it, so Lula said she’d take her.

“I first started out saying that I’d keep her about six months,” Lula said, “and when the six months was up, I told her, ‘You better come to get her now, because we’re getting attached to her,’ and she said, ‘Well, I don’t want her,’ so I said, well, I’ll be her mom then.”

Lula and Abel raised her as their own and she lived with them and the rest of the family until she was 18 and she went off on her own.

Simma said California holds a special place in their hearts also because it’s where their family really began to expand, and Abel and Lula were finally able to relax.

Despite having such a large family and being spread out across multiple states, they’ve all remained very close. 

“Somebody’s always calling,” Lula said, laughing.

While their 73 years of marriage have been fruitful, Lula said it hasn’t always been easy. 

“It’s been good and bad, you know, ups and downs,” she said. “We had a rocky road … But we would always work it out.”

Simms said from her perspective, the hardest time in her parents’ marriage was losing two of their sons. Their oldest passed away suddenly from an asthma attack in 2007 and their other son passed a few years ago from cancer. 

“I didn’t think I was gonna make it,” Lula said.

Another difficult time for them was in July 2020 when Lula and Abel both caught COVID-19. Simms said Lula was in the hospital for almost a month and Abel was in for about two and a half weeks. Lula was given only three days to live, but things turned around for both of them. Simms said that’s when she decided to have them move in with her in Suffolk.

Lula said when the weather was warmer, Abel would take a walk around the neighborhood every day. Now, Simms said they sit outside on the porch for hours every day and do crosswords, read the Bible, watch reruns of old Christian TV shows, and go to church. 

It’s a lot quieter now than it used to be, she said, because there isn’t the constant traffic of family coming in and out all day long, but they find ways to enjoy their time.  

Lula said they’ve enjoyed many vacations with their daughter and son-in-law to Florida, Kentucky, and North Carolina. 

For any couple who’s striving to have a long term marriage like they have, Lula offered some advice:

“It’s going to be good and it’s going to be bad, but if you work out the good, and we tell them to serve God, you know, read the Bible and see what the Bible says.”