By Michael Gresham
The Texas Catholic

It was at the urging of his mother that Tony Azcue attended a social function for Catholic college graduates at an apartment complex in Dallas in May 1968.

“She told me I might meet a ‘nice young lady,’ so I went,” Tony recalled. “My dream, as a little boy, was to marry a redhead. I no more than walked through the door, and there she was.”

She would be Carol.

“My grandmother had been praying to St. Anthony to find me someone special. Sure enough, I found an Anthony,” said Carol, a transplant from Maine who had moved to Dallas in 1967. “I think God was listening.”

The couple would marry four months later. It is a marriage that has lasted more than five decades and one that the couple says grows stronger with each passing year.

“We’ve been married almost 55 years,” said Tony, who along with his wife is a parishioner of Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Rowlett. “I love her more today than the day we first met. I feel very blessed to have her in my life.”

The couple is just one of many that has celebrated their marriage during the annual Diocese of Dallas Golden Anniversary Mass, which each year recognizes couples marking their 50th anniversaries. This year’s Golden Anniversary Mass will be celebrated at 10 a.m. Aug. 26 with Bishop Edward J. Burns as the celebrant at the Cathedral Shrine of the Virgin of Guadalupe.

Kathy and Donald Sawa, parishioners of St. Michael the Archangel Catholic Church in Garland, grew up in McMechen, West Virginia, where they both attended Bishop Donahue Memorial High School. While they were friends at the small Catholic school, they didn’t start dating until after graduation. At the time, she was in college. He joined the U.S. Marine Corps.

“We were apart for a while, but we kept in touch through correspondence,” Kathy said.

Two years after their high school graduation, the couple married and this past June 10, they celebrated their 51st wedding anniversary.

“Once you hit 50 years, it’s actually the best time,” Donald laughed.

To mark their 50th wedding anniversary, the Sawas attended the Golden Anniversary Mass in 2022.

“When we got to the cathedral, it was amazing because there were so many other couples there,” Kathy said. “I was so surprised because I thought there would just be 10 or 15 couples. It was closer to 100. The Mass was beautiful. The bishop’s homily was amazing. You just really felt so full of the Lord.”

The Azcues exchanged their wedding vows at Sacred Heart Cathedral in downtown Dallas when they first got married. Returning to Our Lady of Guadalupe for the Golden Anniversary Mass was something special.

“We got to go to the Mass at the same place we got married. It was beautiful,” Tony said. “You can see all these couples, and they are radiating happiness. They all know they have accomplished something great.”

Carol called the Mass a true blessing.

“You can see that these couples who have stayed together for so many years are taking care of one another,” she explained. “One of the blessings of this Golden Anniversary Mass is being there and seeing hundreds of couples who are celebrating 50 years.”

Achieving the “golden” milestone is no easy task, both couples agreed, but it is one made easier when couples lean on their faith.

“Pray together means you’ll stay together,” said Donald, while Kathy added, “You are making a covenant and two are becoming one, with God.

“You truly need God in your life.”