Georgia couple to celebrate 71 years of marriage

CLAYTON, Ga. - This Valentine's Day, we'd like to introduce you to a couple from Clayton.

According to The Clayton Tribune, Ed Poss met Mary George Barber in the third grade, but she didn't want anything to do with him; however, by the tenth grade, she warmed up to him. 

“I’m not quite sure why she lightened up to me over the years, but I’m glad she did,” Ed told The Clayton Tribune's Tommy Culkin. 

The high school sweethearts decided to get married on March 20, 1946, ten days after Mary George's 18th birthday. 

Next month, they will celebrate 71 years of wedded bliss. 

“We’ve never really had any big arguments,” Ed said. “I know that’s uncommon for a lot of couples, but we never really had any problems; we’ve always been able to just sort of figure out what we were going to do and then do it.”

Ed and Mary George were originally from Athens, but have moved around several times. Directly after high school, Mary George attended the University of Georgia while her husband played football for Auburn. Then, Ed joined the U.S. Navy and completed boot camp in Virginia. Ed told The Clayton Tribune he was stationed in San Diego and spent several months alone before his wife flew out there to live with him. They eventually returned home to Athens and in the mid 60s they moved to Lake Rabun before ending up in Clayton several years ago. 

In recent years, Mary George's health has been declining and Ed has had to hire a home health nurse as she battles Alzheimer's Disease in addition to poor hearing loss. 

"She's been a jewel," Ed told The Clayton Tribune. "The past 71 years have been great."

Mary George and her husband have two children together: Scott and Jamie. 

Read more about the Poss family and their touching love story.