GLASGOW — A Cincinnati, Ohio, couple decided to spend their wedding anniversary in Kentucky this year even though their family, and members of their church, were disappointed the two didn’t stay home to celebrate.

Rolland and Faye Bartle were marking their 70th year of marriage together in Cave City on Tuesday and said they could think of no better place to be than the state where both of them were born. The two are originally from Casey County.

“I told them, ‘Kentucky’s always been home,’” Faye said.

Rolland, who is 97, drove his bride down from Cincinnati earlier in the week to revisit some of the places in the area they had seen before plus a few others. Faye will be 91 in July and both husband and wife seem much younger than their years would suggest.

After arriving at the Masters Inn in Cave City – checking in and settling in – the couple began their sightseeing trips. They visited Mammoth Cave, Barren River Lake State Resort Park and the South Central Cultural Center. They even made a stop at Walmart while they were in Glasgow.

Tuesday afternoon they returned to the hotel after traveling to Glendale to have their anniversary meal at the Whistle Stop restaurant and hotel staff members and Cave City officials surprised them with an additional celebration.

Larry Mutter, the hotel’s general manager, arranged for a cake and flowers and other gifts for the couple. Cynthia Watson, board secretary for the Cave City Chamber of Commerce presented the key to the city to the couple while Brian Dale with the local tourism board and Carol DeGroft, executive director of the chamber, were on hand to give their congratulations to the couple as well.

The two donned the Cave City caps Mutter gave them as they began to tell their life story together to the small crowd of people who had gathered for the event.

The couple married in 1940 on March 22 or 23, depending on which of the two nonagenarians won the disagreement they were having about the actual date. They had bought a framed saying to give to Mutter as a thank-you gift and Faye had the date March 22 inscribed on the back of it, but Rolland said, no, that was wrong, it should have read March 23.

“I will not tell you we do not have disagreements. We do,” Faye said, “but before we go to bed at night, we ask the Lord to help us resolve them.”

Asked what the secret to a long, successful marriage was, Rolland said, “She will tell you it’s good care on her part.”

He went on to say that the couple had been blessed and he felt as if he had had a guardian angel on his shoulder through the years watching over them.

Faye agreed. “We’ve been so blessed down through the years.”

She wasn’t sure at first if she should go out with Rolland when he asked her on a date. He was, after all, an older man. He had just graduated from Union College in 1937 and returned home to Casey County. She was 18 and he was 24, but Rolland won her over to the idea eventually. Faye said she teased him that he couldn’t find anyone at college to marry.

Rolland was in education for 43 years before retiring. He began his teaching career in a one-room school in Liberty in Casey County, he said. He spent 18 years in elementary schools, 20 years in high school classrooms and the rest in administrative roles. Even though he started out in Kentucky, the couple moved to Ohio a few years after they married and Rolland spent most of his time teaching there.

Faye worked as an inspector in a company in Cincinnati for a short time until their first child was born then she stayed at home with their son, Rolland Wesley Bartle, and their daughter, Caryl Hammond, who was born a few years later.

Faye’s maiden name was Wesley and she is a descendent of John Wesley, a famous Methodist minister. The couple retains strong ties to their Methodist church in Ohio and consider members part of their extended family. The couple also has seven grandchildren and 16 great-grandchildren. 

After her husband was an educator for more than 40 years, Faye made a request of him.

“Will you please quit and let us be together a while,” she asked of Rolland.

That was 31 years ago. The couple has visited many places around the world during the intervening years. They’ve traveled the whole United States over by car, according to Rolland, and taken Greyhound bus trips to South America and Alaska, Faye added. They even flew to Hawaii once in 1972, she remembered.

They spent every January, February and March in Florida until three years ago, when family wanted them to stay closer to home. But Kentucky remains a favorite place to visit.

The couple was planning to pack up and head back to Cincinnati on Wednesday because their son had submitted their anniversary announcement to the local newspaper to run in the Wednesday edition so they felt they needed to get back. Did that mean the anniversary was actually on the 23rd instead of the 22nd?

Rolland was all set to make the trek home behind the wheel.

“I’m still a fairly decent driver, but she doesn’t think so,” he said, nodding his head toward his sweetheart of 70 years. “... But I won’t drive after dark.”

Will they be heading south again anytime soon?

“If we’re still in good shape, we’ll see you again,” Rolland said.