Meet Your Neighbor: Elmore couple feel blessed for 73 years of marriage

Sheri Trusty
·4 min read
Blair and Anita celebrated their 73rd wedding anniversary in December. Blair said he attributes their longevity to priorities. They put God before each other and each other before everyone else. Within those priorities, they spent decades of service benefitting the Village of Elmore.
Blair and Anita celebrated their 73rd wedding anniversary in December. Blair said he attributes their longevity to priorities. They put God before each other and each other before everyone else. Within those priorities, they spent decades of service benefitting the Village of Elmore.

ELMORE — As longtime Elmore resident Blair Miller looks back at 95 years of living and 73 years of marriage to his 94-year-old wife, Anita, he sums up his life with one word: blessed.

Although Blair and Anita have moved to Riverview Healthcare Campus in Oak Harbor because Anita’s health is frail and she is no longer able to communicate, Blair still enjoys spending each day with Anita, and he still recognizes that as long as he has breath, he has purpose.

“I could write a book about the blessings I’ve had in life,” Blair said. “I’m here for a reason. Maybe it’s just the fact we’re still together.”

Elaborate wedding plans had to be scrapped

Blair and Anita almost got off to a rough start. The elaborate wedding they planned was postposed when Blair became ill, and they instead married during a small, intimate wedding in December 1948. The change of date and venue didn’t change their love, and Blair attributes their longevity to priorities.

“God is first, Anita is second, and children are third. It doesn’t always work that way in homes,” Blair said. “People say marriage is 50/50. It’s not 50/50, it’s 60/40. You both try to give more than half. It’s been profound how giving Anita always was.”

Through most of their marriage, Blair owned Blair Miller Insurance in Elmore and then Properties by Blair. As a small business owner, he worked long hours and often didn’t get home until eight at night. Yet he always found a way to make Anita a priority.

“We’d put the kids to bed, get a sitter, and go out to dinner,” Blair said. “We had a philosophy; we couldn’t always do it, but we tried. It was work three weeks and take three days off together. We’d go on weekend trips. We spent a lot of money on babysitters, but we also spent a lot of time together. I think that had a lot to do with why our marriage lasted.”

Oakley, left, and Daisy Pocock play inside Elmore’s Ory Park gazebo that was dedicated in honor of Blair and Anita Miller. A plaque at the gazebo says the gazebo honors the Millers' commitment to the community “through dedication, kindness, and example.”
Oakley, left, and Daisy Pocock play inside Elmore’s Ory Park gazebo that was dedicated in honor of Blair and Anita Miller. A plaque at the gazebo says the gazebo honors the Millers' commitment to the community “through dedication, kindness, and example.”

Within the blessings of love and security in their marriage, Blair and Anita had the freedom to be blessings to others. Throughout their lives, they were well-known benefactors in the community who donated both time and money to make Elmore the best it could be.

Served on many community boards

In the past, Blair served on the boards of directors for the Ottawa County tax abatement review board, Ottawa County Community Foundation, Mid Am Bank and Schedel Arboretum and Gardens. As a member of Elmore Kiwanis, he was instrumental in obtaining funds for, and then managing, the downtown village sign.

Anita was often by Blair’s side as he volunteered, and both of them were longtime Bible teachers at Trinity Lutheran Church in Elmore. Anita volunteered for many years at Riverview, where the couple now resides, and a plaque at the campus honors her as a lifetime member of the women’s auxiliary.

In the 1970s, Anita was named Ottawa County Woman of the Year, and the village of Elmore dedicated a gazebo at Ory Park to Blair and Anita in recognition of their service to the community.

Prior to having children, Anita worked as the freelance society editor for the Fremont News-Messenger.

“She had a knack for how to spot a story,” Blair said. “She wrote a story on John Hovis, who was a famous mushroom hunter, and she was the only one he ever took to his secret hunting spot.”

Survived tractor accident, World War II

The life blessings Blair received began long before he married Anita. He survived a serious tractor accident as a child, and he survived military service during World War II. After retiring from his businesses, he worked as a gift planning consultant for the Ohio District of the Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod, another job he loved.

But his most favored blessings came through Anita.

“My biggest blessing is that beautiful, young lady right there,” he said, pointing to Anita. “I came to know Jesus through her.”

That blessing continues today, as Blair and Anita live together, unable to communicate with words, but still communicating with their hearts.

“We’ve lived longer than we should on this Earth, but we’re living together, so that counteracts it,” Blair said. “She knows I’m here, and I know she’s here, and we’re content with that.”

Contact correspondent Sheri Trusty at sheritrusty4@gmail.com.

This article originally appeared on Fremont News-Messenger: Meet Your Neighbor: Elmore couple blessed with 73-year marriage