Genevieve and Gilbert Sandoval | 55 years

Veva and Gib Sandoval were married 55 years ago, in August 1962.
The two met at a St. Patrick’s Day dance at the Notre Dame School.
“I should have stayed home,” Gib says with a big smile.
The Sandoval’s have seven children, five boys and two girls.
From their children, they’ve been blessed with 25 grandchildren and so far 26 great-grandchildren.
During their married life, the couple has fostered 25 children; one is still with them. He is 11 years old and they’ve had him since he was four months old.
Veva and Gib were born in New Mexico, but they didn’t know each other there growing up.
Gib eventually moved to Sunnyside and Veva to Dragerton.
When they did finally meet, at that dance at Notre Dame, they soon became inseparable, even as Gib traveled for work.
They would write to each other during the week and they were together on weekends.
“Seems like I got a letter every day,” says Veva.
Asked about the roughest time during their long marriage, both agreed it was during the 1960s and their early years together.
Times were lean. For example, their first home was a small wooden house, built from scrap lumber from the lumber mills.
Their bed sat on a spring with no legs. Cooking was done on a wood stove. Clothes were washed using a washboard. Water was heated on the wood stove.
But they made it.
“I guess seven (kids) is a lucky number,” says Veva.
Veva initially worked at a nursing home as a cook and cleaner. She also took jobs cleaning house to make additional money.
She then worked construction, working her way up from laborer to gravel crusher operator.
She was gone a lot for work. But they would leave each other letters if they missed one another.
That, says Veva, may be a key to their longevity.
“We were always glad to see each other when we could,” she said.