Minnesota couple shares secret to 80 years of marriage

Betty and Kermit Eastman marked their 80th wedding anniversary in St. Cloud with a family gathering at their daughter’s house, celebrating a marriage that has stretched from wartime separation to five generations of descendants. The couple, both 99, raised two children and now have five grandchildren, 11 great-grandchildren and 3 great-great-grandchildren.

Their story began in Thief River Falls, where Betty moved into the neighborhood and caught Kermit’s attention. Betty remembered her father joking about Kermit walking up and down the sidewalk, and she recalled that Kermit had run a lawnmowing business when he was young. Before they could build much of a life together, Kermit left high school to join the Navy during World War II.

Kermit said his ship, the USS Mullany, was struck by a Japanese kamikaze pilot, and about 20 men were lost. After the war, the couple married in 1946 and both went back to finish high school. Kermit said he attended his senior prom as a married man.

After college, the Eastmans settled in St. Cloud, where Kermit worked as a superintendent. In 2016, Kermit and Betty Swan Eastman, then of Waite Park, were preparing to celebrate their 70th anniversary on June 6. Waite Park Post 428 presented him with an 80-year certificate in 2025 and called him a Navy veteran who served on the destroyer USS Mullany.

Asked for the secret, Betty kept it simple: “Just don’t keep secrets and be honest,” she said. Kermit’s advice was equally direct: “Tell it like it is” and “Just live every day. Every day is a gift.”