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Staying Power

What are the keys to lasting love and a strong marriage?

According to one Wayne couple, it’s commitment, honesty, and putting the other person first

By Courtney Conover
Marriage, for the most part, ex-
ists as an idyllic social construct in
our society.
Sure, stereotypes like the hus-
band who ignores his wife’s honey-
do list, the wife who shops too much,
and the mother-in-law who can’t stop
meddling make for convenient jokes.
But, by and large, marriage—
often accompanied by the vision of a
beautiful wedding and blissful hap-
pily ever after—has a way of finding
itself on the master checklist for
adulthood.
Not pictured, though, are the
proverbial bumps in the road that
are part and parcel with saying “I
do”: the minutiae of everyday life, the
navigation of hardships, and growing The Powers Family
pains.
Marriage can be lovely, yes. But it their relationship was punctuated wouldn’t last. She thought we were Westland to raise their family.
also takes work. throughout the years by months and going to break up!” The roots of their marriage were
And Susan and Jesse Powers, months of physical distance makes Jesse learned of all this mere mo- strong.
who have been married for 45 years, their tale so unconventional. ments before walking down the aisle Jesse credits being all alone—
wouldn’t have it any other way. By the time Susan was a senior at but didn’t pay much mind. “I didn’t bereft of any friends or family—while
When asked to recall the moment Dearborn’s Fordson High School— have time to think about it,” he says. in South Carolina with making them
he knew Susan was the one, Jesse, and Jesse was a senior at Huron By today’s standards, Susan and closer.
who turns 65 in June, gives a reply High School in Ann Arbor—they Jesse’s nuptials wouldn’t be profiled By the time Susan was 24 and
that would make any hopeless ro- were ready for more. on one of those blingy wedding real- Jesse was 25, they were the parents
mantic weak in the knees. “It was just a phone call,” says ity series on cable: It happened on a of four children, three daughters,
“I think I always knew,” he says of Susan. “We started talking, and very Tuesday, the reception was in and one son.
Susan, 64. soon after, he joined the military— Susan’s parent’s basement, and her Susan remembers the time all
The details of their pairing are in- the army—and asked me to marry sister had made her dress. Any pho- too well, when they were in the thick
fused with the simplicity of young him. I was still in high school…and I tographic evidence that the event of things, when she and Jesse were
love, the kind of hopeful imagery one said yes! The wedding was quick and even took place was captured with a balancing marriage amid work life
could see playing out in one of John sudden.” Polaroid camera. and child rearing. At the time, Jesse
Mellencamp’s music videos. But not everyone was over the But what the couple lacked in worked afternoons at General Mo-
They met at the age of 10, but it moon about it. pomp and pizazz, they more than tors, while Susan worked at a local
wasn’t because they grew up a “It’s interesting,” Susan recalls, made up for with character and gen- dentist’s office during the day, which
stone’s throw away from each other chuckling. “Jesse’s father was very uine love. afforded her the flexibility to attend
or because they followed the same negative, and on the way to the Susan and Jesse spent their first parent teacher conferences and the
route to school. That wasn’t the case church, he made a comment to one night as a married couple at what kids’ performances at school.
at all: Susan and her family lived in of Jesse’s younger sisters [Jennifer] was then the Hyatt Recency Hotel in “Looking back, though, I remem-
Dearborn, while Jesse and his family that this was the biggest mistake of Dearborn. The next morning, they ber living paycheck to paycheck,”
made their home in Milford. The two Jesse’s life, and it won’t last six promptly packed up their belongings she says. “For a long time, we kind
met in Milford at Camp Dearborn months.” and took off for Columbia, South of worked opposite shifts.”
while their families camped one sum- Susan, however, was none the Carolina, where the two would live “She told me one time, she felt
mer. wiser. When she saw Jennifer, whose while Jesse completed his last year like a single parent because I was at
“We were kids, so we didn’t drive,” sensitivity had long earned her the of military service. work all the time,” Jesse, who has
says Jesse. “When school started, I nickname “Tenderheart,” crying at “Everything we owned fit in our since retired, admits. “But I had no
wouldn’t see her again until next the church, Susan assumed she car—a 1970 Ford Galaxy 500,” re- choice; I never turned down over-
summer. You know that song See knew why. calls Jesse. time.”
you in September [by The Happen- Remembers Susan, “I thought, The two remained in South Car- “At the time, it was all we knew,”
ings; 1966]? It was kind of like that— ‘Oh, how sweet, she’s crying because olina for a year before returning to says Susan of their grind. “In hind-
only I’ll see you in June.” she’s so happy.’ No. She was crying Michigan (South Lyon, to be exact),
The fact that the initial stage of because her dad told her we and then eventually they settled in See Powers, page 4

The Wayne Dispatch · February 2022 · 3