"Love at first sight:" WWII veteran, his wife celebrate 71 years of marriage!



CHARLOTTE, North Carolina -- A husband and wife in North Carolina are celebrating the 71st anniversary -- and they have some advice when it comes to making marriage last.

"Most beautiful girl I had ever seen. She was so beautiful," Jim Geer said.

Maxie Geer worked at Grimes Dry Cleaning Plant which once stood at the corner of Mint and Morehead.

"He came in to have his suit pressed," Maxie Geer said.

Jim wasted no time asking her out on that night in 1946.

"She said 'you can't have a date with me.' I said 'why I can't have a date with you?' She said 'I already have a date.' And I said 'no honey,'" Jim Geer said.

Two short months later, they said "I do."

"That was love at first sight," Maxine Geer said.

It's a love story that almost wasn't written. Before they met, Jim Geer fought through three invasions and five major battles in World War II under General Patton. He said one night, he wondered whether he'd make it.

"I got down on my knees in that fox hole and I told the Lord if he'd get me home, I'd do anything that he'd tell me," Jim Geer said.

Of course, he came home, and the rest is history.

Now, the 91-year-old and 95-year-old say their secret to a long and happy marriage is never going to bed angry.

"And if I did go to sleep sometime in the middle of the night I'd wake up and I'd feel so bad about it and I'd say 'Maxie, please forgive me,'" Jim Geer said.

So how does one celebrate 71 years of wedded bliss? Jim and Maxine Geer did so at home, in their recliners, because being side-by-side is where they're happiest.

"My love just keeps growing for that woman," Jim Geer said.

Their actual wedding anniversary was Wednesday, March 1st.