Loving couple enjoying life together for 76 years

Feb. 14--AUBURN -- For 76 years, Dale and Betty Mullen have been sharing a loving marriage that inspires awe among their family and friends.

Even today, 96-year-old Dale said that it seems like he and Betty, 95, are dating again -- but it's bittersweet.

Most days from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Dale visits Betty, who has signs of dementia, at the Auburn Rehabilitation & Health Care Center, where she resides. Dale lives in a home in Auburn, where the two moved to about 22 years ago, having moved there from rural Virden.

"I tell Betty I come over here, and I say, 'It's kind of like dating again. I come over here, and I spend time with you, and I go home.'" Dale said. "I said, 'I don't like that. That's the reason we got married -- to be together because we love one another. That's why we like to be together.'"

The Mullens married July 5, 1941, in St. Charles, Missouri.

Dale said the best thing about being married 76 years is love and family get-togethers.

"We've had a whole life together, Betty and I, 76 years. Somebody to love, cherish, honor and obey," Dale said. "But we right now, it's bad that she has to spend her time over here in a nursing home, and I have to spend my time at home away from one another because we love each other so much.

"She means everything to me. Everything."

Challenging times

Dale said he and Betty have had a "wonderful life together," having done "everything together."

"In our dating life when we were kids dating and to our married lives, we just done everything," Dale said.

Dale and Betty were both born in 1922, seven months apart -- Dale in Modesto and Betty in Virden. Dale was the 10th of 12 children, and Betty was the second of six children.

Having moved to Virden when he was 7 years old, Dale grew up under challenging circumstances. His father died in 1927 and two years later came the stock market crash and The Great Depression. Dale began delivering newspapers and setting pins at a bowling alley Virden when he was in eighth grade.

"By the eighth grade, his jobs and his chores at home would take all of his time. There would be no high school for Dale," according to the Mullens' daughter Karen Mullen Browning in her June 28, 2016, writing "Dale and Betty Mullen: The Story of My Parents and Their 75 Years of Marriage."

"In 1933, the Depression forced my mother's father to seek work in Chicago. Betty and her siblings would attend a surprisingly large school and spend many days exploring the Chicago World's Fair. But sadly that job would not work out and Betty would return to Virden with her family just over a year later."

When Dale was 14, he met Betty at the town square in Virden.

"When I met Betty, first time, it was down Virden at a band concert. It was on a Saturday night. She was with her younger sister, her cousin, and they were all together. It was on the south side of the city hall in Virden," said Dale, who was with a friend at the time. Dale told his friend that he liked Betty.

"He said, 'Why don't you tell her you like her?' I said, 'No.' I was bashful, so he goes over, and he tells Betty, he says, 'He likes you,' " Dale said.

"I don't know how I seen her the second time, but I kept trying to make her acquaintance. She went to young people's meeting at church on Sunday night, and I'd go over and wait for her to get out of church and walk her down to her aunt's house. ... We'd walk down together, and that was our first date."

Living life

After their marriage in 1941, the Mullens lived in Gary, Indiana, where Dale worked for the railroad and Betty worked for a local grocer. The couple moved in 1945 to Springfield, with Dale working at Allis-Chalmers and Betty working for Sears.

In 1974, the Mullens moved to Virden. Betty, who had taken an employment break beginning in the early 1960s, returned to her job at Sears in about 1978. Betty retired from Sears and Dale retired from Fiat-Allis in the 1980s.

Throughout their years, Dale and Betty roller-skated together, danced ballroom dancing, plus enjoyed friends, family get-togethers, traveling and camping.

"Our whole life was being together. We loved one another," Dale said.

Dale said that he and Betty have had ups and downs and heartaches.

"It's just things that you have to overcome. The first four years of our married life, we lost two daughters. One was stillborn, and two years later, we tried again, and we lost a second time," Dale said.

"We were married 20 years, and Betty said, 'Are we going to grow old and not have any children?... Are we going to have children?' She said, 'Let's put in for adoption.' So we adopted our daughter (Karen Mullen Browning). Got her when she was two weeks old."

The adoption was approved when Betty found out she was pregnant.

"I said, 'What are we going to do about our adoption? We're approved and everything.' She said, 'We're not turning them down. We're going ahead with it.' "

On Nov. 25, 1962, Dale "Tom" Mullen II was born. Browning was born April 21, 1962. The two siblings are seven months apart.

The Mullens have four grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.

"I've never seen (my parents) argue. I'm 55 years old, almost 56, and I've never seen them argue," Browning said. "They say they did, mostly before they ever had kids, but I think that says a lot about them. They just can't be that mad at each other. They see each other's side too readily. I say they're like one person."

Dale said he and Betty have enjoyed their lives.

"We're still enjoying our lives together," Dale said.

Contact Tamara Browning: tamara.browning@sj-r.com, 788-1534, twitter.com/tambrowningSJR.

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