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The Buells are residents of Devonshire Retirement Village. On Tuesday, the couple was scheduled to renew their vows just in time for Valentine's Day. A small party was planned for afterward.

The Buells are known around Devonshire for their strong marriage, which has endured despite the likes of war and illness.

Kim King, a residential aid at Devonshire, calls the Buells Bonnie and Clyde. "They find their way back to each other. He

calls her Smokey and he's Ack," King said.

But the well known duo almost didn't end up together. They met in 1950. Clyde was 22 and working in state forestry.

"We met at my aunt's house in Pennsylvania," Hazel said. "I went across the street and he followed me home like a little puppy. I had two cousins and he knew them well. Then I found out who he was when he got in there.

"I thought he was handsome. He was 6 foot 4 inches. His hands were so smooth. We'd play cards and they'd roll out of his hands," Hazel said.

Hazel said she started going with Clyde, but their love was interrupted by the draft. "He went in the Army and got drafted," she said. "He was a military policeman and went to Germany and France."

The pair exchanged love letters during Clyde's two years of service. Hazel burned the letters because at the time she didn't want anyone to read them, an action she now regrets.

When Clyde came home for good, the pair continued to date until St. Patrick's Day when Clyde proposed. "We were parked and he got down on one knee when he gave me the ring—it took one time," she said. "He was the nicest fellow. I just love him and still do."

Hazel and Clyde were married June 6, 1953 at Casebeer Lutheran Church in Somerset, Penn.

She tearfully recalled the couple's best Valentine's Day. "One year for Valentine's Day we were snowed in and

couldn't get out to get a card," she said. "He got me and brought me over to the window. He had traipsed a heart in the snow. It might've been the most special Valentine's Day."

Aside from romantic and loving gestures, Hazel said the real secret to being married a long time is honesty with each other. "Don't fight and go to bed mad," she also advised.

The couple has one daughter, Patricia DePhillips of Lapeer Township and one grandson who is in the Army like his grandfather. The Buells came to Lapeer in 2006 to be closer to their family.

Though Clyde suffers from Alzheimer's disease, he is still

able to get around at Devonshire.

"They have always been the perfect example of a happily married couple," DePhillips said. "I think I have the best parents in the world. Dad would marry Mom every day for the rest of his life."

Jennifer Decker can be reached at (810) 664-0811, Ext. 8125 or jennifer.decker@lapeergroup.com.