Ron and Carolyn Haworth celebrate 50 years together
September 15, 2009
By Christopher Huber
By Christopher Huber
Ron Haworth has spent most of his life fighting fires. But when it comes to his marriage to wife Carolyn, he hasn’t had any infernos to put out.
The couple has lived in Sammamish since long before it was a city — 1986 — and said they’ve never really been mad at each other for more than a few hours at a time, thus they’ve never had any fires to put out at home.
“I can only remember a serious fight once ever in my life,” said daughter Eunice Haworth.
And that’s one of the greatest reasons they say they’ve made it together 50 years.
The Haworths, who live near Beaver Lake Park, celebrated their 50th anniversary Aug. 22 — a day after their real anniversary — with about 70 of their best friends and family members.
A few days after the party, they reminisced about their wedding day — Aug. 21, 1959, in Selah, Wash. Ron had come home from military service and was working in an auto parts shop and volunteering as a firefighter in Selah, their hometown.
“He was fightin’ fire the day we got married,” Carolyn Haworth said.
Literally, they said, Ron was called out the morning of the wedding.
“I wasn’t late. I was on time,” he said. “I even had time to shave.”
Ron and Carolyn come from the Selah High School classes of 1952 and 1954 respectively. He became Selah’s first paid fire chief in 1969. Later that year, they moved over the mountains for Ron to work as Redmond’s fire chief. Ron was also on the Sammamish City Council during the city’s formation in 1999.
Throughout the years, Carolyn worked at a jewelry store, the Redmond Chamber of Commerce and Sporty’s in Puyallup, she said.
They have two children, Eunice and Ron.
“We learned to tolerate each other,” Ron said, half joking.
But he acknowledged the importance of being patient with one’s spouse and not letting their quirks get in the way of enjoying life together.
“He has more quirks than I do,” Carolyn said light-heartedly.
The two have a lot of stories from their travels around the United States in an R.V. Their 25th anniversary trip to California stuck out to them. One night they pulled over into a field to rest. When they awoke the next morning, Carolyn said she thought Ron had bad morning breath. They looked outside and saw they had parked in a field of onions.
Ron and Carolyn both said tolerance is one of the best characteristics people can have in marriage.
“It appears too easy anymore to say ‘it’s too hard,’” Ron said about giving up in marriage. “You have to work at it. You have to want to be married. It’s not (always) that simple.”
Reporter Christopher Huber can be reached at 392-6434, ext. 242, or chuber@isspress.com. Comment on this story at www.sammamishreview.com.
Ron Haworth has spent most of his life fighting fires. But when it comes to his marriage to wife Carolyn, he hasn’t had any infernos to put out.
The couple has lived in Sammamish since long before it was a city — 1986 — and said they’ve never really been mad at each other for more than a few hours at a time, thus they’ve never had any fires to put out at home.
“I can only remember a serious fight once ever in my life,” said daughter Eunice Haworth.
And that’s one of the greatest reasons they say they’ve made it together 50 years.
The Haworths, who live near Beaver Lake Park, celebrated their 50th anniversary Aug. 22 — a day after their real anniversary — with about 70 of their best friends and family members.
The Haworths 50 years ago.
A few days after the party, they reminisced about their wedding day — Aug. 21, 1959, in Selah, Wash. Ron had come home from military service and was working in an auto parts shop and volunteering as a firefighter in Selah, their hometown.
“He was fightin’ fire the day we got married,” Carolyn Haworth said.
Literally, they said, Ron was called out the morning of the wedding.
“I wasn’t late. I was on time,” he said. “I even had time to shave.”
Ron and Carolyn come from the Selah High School classes of 1952 and 1954 respectively. He became Selah’s first paid fire chief in 1969. Later that year, they moved over the mountains for Ron to work as Redmond’s fire chief. Ron was also on the Sammamish City Council during the city’s formation in 1999.
Throughout the years, Carolyn worked at a jewelry store, the Redmond Chamber of Commerce and Sporty’s in Puyallup, she said.
They have two children, Eunice and Ron.
“We learned to tolerate each other,” Ron said, half joking.
But he acknowledged the importance of being patient with one’s spouse and not letting their quirks get in the way of enjoying life together.
“He has more quirks than I do,” Carolyn said light-heartedly.
The two have a lot of stories from their travels around the United States in an R.V. Their 25th anniversary trip to California stuck out to them. One night they pulled over into a field to rest. When they awoke the next morning, Carolyn said she thought Ron had bad morning breath. They looked outside and saw they had parked in a field of onions.
The Haworths today.
Ron and Carolyn both said tolerance is one of the best characteristics people can have in marriage.
“It appears too easy anymore to say ‘it’s too hard,’” Ron said about giving up in marriage. “You have to work at it. You have to want to be married. It’s not (always) that simple.”
Reporter Christopher Huber can be reached at 392-6434, ext. 242, or chuber@isspress.com.
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Remembering 50 years of marriage — and an onion field…
…
Hey Ron, we moved from Kirkland to Allen WA.
The Washington State Haworth reunion will be here, or at nearby Coupville, second Sunday in August.
We had a great time at the 310 year national reunion in Portland, last July.