At least one workplace romance has survived the test of time.
Marv and Freda Wood met at the laundry where they were working in Des Moines, Iowa, more than 70 years ago.
On Wednesday, the Gardnerville couple celebrate their 70th wedding anniversary.
Married Jan. 27, 1940, the Iowa natives have survived war and hard times.
Marv grew up in what was then the little town of Ankeny, Iowa, which is about 10 miles north of Des Moines, the state capital.
Freda was one of eight children who grew up in Anamosa, Iowa, about 80 miles north of Des Moines.
She had to move to the state capital to attend Roosevelt High School, where she worked for a wealthy family and attended schools.
"I had to work for my room and board," she said.
When she graduated from high school in 1937, her commencement speaker was Ronald Reagan, who was then a sports announcer for WHO radio.
Marv had worked as a golf caddy during the Depression and got a job delivering laundry in Des Moines. Freda was working in the office. Another couple working at the laundry set them up.
They lived in Iowa for nearly two years, until Pearl Harbor, when Marv joined the U.S. Army. He was a military policeman who escorted prisoners of war to England, where they were eventually shipped to the United States.
"You spent more time at sea than you did on land," Freda observed.
After the war, Marv started a pinball and jukebox business for a few years and operated a gas station, before moving to California where they took charge of a marina on the Salton Sea in early 1950s.
That opportunity lasted for about a year before the marina closed and the couple moved north.
Marv remembers taking their son Michael to the 1962 World Series where he saw the Giants nearly defeat the New York Yankees.
"(William 'Big Mac') McCovey hit a ball so hard that it nearly knocked the second baseman over, but he hung onto it and it was the last out," Marv said.
Freda got a job at Lockheed, where she worked for 25 years before retiring.
Marv worked in real estate during that time until the couple came to Lake Tahoe in the early 1980s where they owned the three Ski Run Liquor stores until they retired.
Marv was in the Masonic Lodge for 50 years and has four 50-year pins. He has been very active in the Shriners.
The couple attributed the longevity of their marriage to the struggle in life they had to face together.
"We both have worked hard all of our lives," Marv said. "We both had real tough lives."
Freda, who was one of eight children in her family, agreed.
"It really wasn't easy during the Depression years," she said.
