The search is on in South Carolina for the man and woman with the longest, continuous marriage. The couple will be recognized on Aug. 3 in Columbia where the first Classic Marriage of the Year award will be presented.
The Classic Marriage Coalition (CMC), a project of First Foundations, Inc., a nonprofit organization formed in 1986 to research and report on basic societal foundations, will honor the winning couple during a luncheon at the Clarion Townhouse Hotel ballroom near the State Capitol.
Mike Huckabee, governor of Arkansas, will be the keynote speaker at the event.
The deadline for entries for the marriage award is July 20. Each nomination must include the couple’s full names, date of marriage and contact information, along with the name and contact information of the person submitting the nomination.
Nominations may be sent online to ffi113@bellsouth.net, or by mail to P.O. Box 991, Travelers Rest, S.C. 29690. Nominations cannot be accepted by phone, but information is available by calling (864) 834-2300.
The Classic Marriage Coalition is a voluntary alliance of South Carolinians working for passage of the Marriage Amendment set for a statewide vote in the November general election.
The amendment’s position, according to former television journalist and retired North Greenville University teacher Dick Jensen, is that “marriage between one man and one woman is the only lawful domestic union that shall be valid or recognized” in the state of South Carolina.
Members of the advisory council of CMC include Ben Davis, president of Connie Maxwell Children’s Home in Greenwood; Joe Mack, director of the South Carolina Baptist Convention’s office of public policy issues; Bill Phillips of Greenville, retired coach at Wade Hampton High School; and Dan Ray, former director of stewardship development and Cooperative Program promotion for the state convention and now interim administrator for First Baptist Church in Greer. Davis is also vice president of First Foundations and Ray is treasurer. Jensen, of Travelers Rest, is president of FFI.