CARMICHAEL, CA (MPG) - Jack and Jerri Pefley’s platinum anniversary dinner menu began as humbly as their first meal as husband and wife. Driving from Hatboro (PA) to Niagara Falls in 1948, the newlyweds stopped to eat. “We had a cup of soup and a salad,” recalls Jerri (90). “We had only two days for our honeymoon. We were hungry, and restaurants were closed. That was the only meal we could find.”

Seventy years later, fillet steak and desserts followed the nostalgic first courses at Eskaton Village. The Pefleys assembled family and old friends for a champagne toast to love and partnership. Now almost 95, Jack offered a formula for marital longevity: “Be out of town as much as possible,” he suggested. He was only half kidding. The Pefley marriage endured many years of long separations.

“We were apart so much, we were always so happy to see each other again,” said his wife. “But it was hard, too. When our son John spoke at his El Camino High School graduation, Jack was away flying. In those days, people were committed to careers. Family events weren’t used as excuses.”

Jack and Jerri wed at the same Hatboro church where they contrived their first date. Carmichael bred, Jack’s war service and subsequent military career decreed he would not return home permanently for many years. His test-pilot flights near Hatboro required rapid reactions so, after beholding 20-year-old Pennsylvanian Jerri Kratz in spring, he proposed in summer and they married in fall. “Jack’s commitment to decisions was something I liked,” approves his bride.

“Jack saw me singing in the church choir. A pilot friend introduced us. He asked me to lunch and to a June Allyson movie. My birthday party was that night and I was engaged to marry someone else. I went out with Jack because I liked him – and I really liked June Allyson.”

During the Hatboro courtship, the dashing Navy pilot dashed between Hatboro and Berkeley CA, finishing his political science degree. “I sure hoped Jack would propose,” Jerri admits. “One day he gave me a gift box with a ribbon sticking out of it. I pulled the ribbon. Every few inches were slips of paper with lines from love poems. At the very end was a diamond ring.”

The September bride personified post-war glam in white lace. Their freezing cold Niagara bridal suite, regrets the groom, had twin cots. Because their car was borrowed, Mr. and Mrs. Pefley headed home after two days. Longer journeys soon became the norm. During Navy postings in the Philippines, Japan, Morocco, Southern California and France, the Pefleys raised three kids. Retiring as a Commander, Jack established his family in Carmichael and began an 18-year career flying for World Airways. His second retirement was in 1983. The Pefleys occupied Palm Drive acres they called Rocking K.P. (Kratz and Pefley) Ranch.

Both served the Carmichael community: its Presbyterian Church, Chamber of Commerce and parks have claimed many volunteer hours. These days, the K.P. ranchers keep a gentler pace at Eskaton Village, Carmichael.

“We still love being together,” says Jack’s bride. “Even after 70 years, we never run out of things to say.”