Couple renews wedding vows after 65 years

In the spring of 1952, a young man named Pat Lee visited Columbia Falls to be the best man in his friend Bob Walton’s wedding. There, Lee met the woman who would be his wife.

Lee, a New Mexico native, and Walton, who was born and raised in Columbia Falls, became best friends in Army boot camp in 1950. They served in the same unit in the Korean War. As the story goes, Walton’s sister Dolly wrote to Lee while the men were in Korea, but Dolly Walton and Pat Lee didn’t meet until Bob Walton’s wedding.

“That’s where the romance started,” Kerri O’Farrell noted.

O’Farrell is the youngest of Pat and Dolly Lee’s four daughters.

After Walton’s wedding, Pat and Dolly dated for two weeks.

Six weeks after they met, they got married at the United Methodist Church in Columbia Falls.

Fast-forward 65 years, and they now have four children, 10 grandchildren, and nine great-grandchildren.

On May 24 the Lees celebrated their 65th wedding anniversary by renewing their vows. The ceremony was held at the Montana Veterans Home chapel - Bob Walton lives at the home, and Pat and Dolly live near Columbia Falls High School.

O’Farrell got ordained as a minister online to perform the marriage ceremony for her parents.

The Lees, both age 86, and Walton, who will turn 88 in June, have all maintained their senses of humor.

Pat credits the long lifespan of his marriage to one simple thing.

“She’s a pretty good woman,” he said.

Walton remarked that Dolly’s success in the marriage was due to “having a good brother.”

Dolly was similarly quippy.

“I didn’t have good sense,” she joked, then explained, “I went along for the ride and it was a good ride so I stayed with it. He was an excellent father.”

And according to Dolly, it was Pat’s idea to renew their vows to commemorate 65 years together.

“It was his idea the first time and it’s his idea this time,” she said.