71 Years of Love

By ROB HERBST
The Catholic Week
FOLEY – It’s fair to say Pat and Polly Scully had different expectations following their first encounter at the Kress five-and-dime store in Mobile. 
“I didn’t think about marriage, it didn’t cross my mind,” Pat Scully said. “She went home and told her mother that she had just met the man she was going to marry and I didn’t. All I did was meet her.”
“That was true,” Polly verified.
But 71 years of marriage have maybe even exceeded Polly’s expectations. The Scullys, who now live in Foley, were one of 166 couples who celebrated their marriage at an Archdiocese of Mobile-sponsored Milestone Wedding Anniversary Mass in September. In all, the couples combined for 7,327 years of marriage.
Masses for couples celebrating 1, 10, 25, 40 or at least 50 years were held at St. Michael the Archangel Parish in Auburn, Holy Redeemer Parish in Eufaula, St. Mary Parish in Mobile and St. Margaret of Scotland Parish in Foley, where the Scullys were one of several couples who renewed their vows on Sept. 21 during Mass celebrated by Fr. Paul Zoghby.
The Scullys initially met after Pat returned home from the Korean War and planned to visit his sister, who was working at Kress. It just so happened that Polly was already working there. They began chatting and eventually agreed to see a movie together.
Neither could remember what movie they saw, although Polly remembered “I thought he had the prettiest blue eyes I’d seen in my life.”
Their courtship continued and they were legally married April 9, 1952, in Mississippi and a convalidation ceremony was held that October at St. Joan of Arc Parish in Mobile. Polly was not Catholic at the time, but soon converted, while Pat has always been a practicing Catholic.
Pat was 20 years old and Polly was 17. 
They’re now 91 and 88 years old, and have five children, 14 grandchildren (“grandgrownups,” says Pat) and 18 great-grandchildren.
“When you’re having fun, time goes by,” Polly said. 
Of course, it’s not always been fun. There have been the normal trials and tribulations of life, such as relocations for employment purposes. After leaving the military, Pat spent 36 years working for the federal government in Alabama, Georgia and Florida. The Scullys have lived in Foley for about the past 10 years.
Pat also had a serious fall from a ladder decades ago that required a long recovery. Most recently, Pat battled cancer but is now doing well.
“So many unknowns come up,” Polly said. “But that’s what also brings you together. God’s been so good to us and He’s been everything.”
Pat also credits some advice a priest told him as to why they’ve had 71 years of marriage – don’t try and change your spouse.
“God made you who you are and God made me who I am,” Pat recalls telling Polly. “I can’t change who I am and you can’t change who you are. And I can’t change you and you can’t change me. When we get married, I’m still going to be who I am and you are going to be who you are.” 
When asked what advice they’d share with younger couples beginning their marriage, Polly gave the tried-and-true advice “Don’t go to bed mad.”
Pat added, “Work together. You can’t always agree on everything, but because you have a little argument, that’s no reason to go get a divorce. That’s stupid.”
While Pat received some valuable advice from a priest more than 71 years ago, Fr. Zoghby also provided some wisdom during his homily for the married couples.
He encouraged couples that their job is to “love each other as Jesus loves.”
“You are the people helping the world to know that you’re loving each other to Heaven, by the way you sacrifice for each other, by the way you’re merciful to each other, by the way you give each other, by your example of living the faith, you become Jesus living and breathing in love. 
“For that, today we give thanks.”