Sherman couple has prescription for long marriage

In a world where marriages are either non-existent or they fall apart shortly after the “I Do’s” are said, couples may want to take a lesson from William (Doc) and Freddie Daniels of Sherman. The couple has been married 70 years today!
    At 93 and 92 years young, the Daniels both live in the same house they’ve lived in for the past 60 years. Doctor Daniels lived in Calais before he left for World War II, then relocated to Millinocket when he returned.
“I delivered more babies in 1948 than any other doctor there,” he said.
Freddie was working in the operating room as the charge nurse, so they didn’t see each other often. “We went together for six weeks before getting married,” said Doc. “I was young but through school, so it was the logical next step to get married.”
“I always liked the psychology nurses, there is something extra special about them,” Doc said. “I dated other girls, but Freddie was it. She was very loyal to me, even after I went to war. Doctors back then had twice the national divorce rate. Even after we were married, we only saw each other in the hallways or the operating room.
“We were married for six years before I went to war, and my firstborn showed up six weeks after I left. I didn’t see him until he was 2 years old, when I returned home. It was hard in the ER because you were on call the whole weekend. And you were not allowed to sleep, unlike doctors today,” he said.
When the Daniels moved to Sherman to start a general practice, Doc found the most dilapidated “fixer upper” in town, and called it home. When Freddie joined him, she was starting to wonder what she had gotten herself into. They eventually moved into the house they call home today, on the North Rd.
Doc had his practice on one end of the house, making house calls around the area, usually in the dead of night. There aren’t many of us around the Sherman/Patten area that haven’t seen him at least once. It got so that Doc was seeing the children of the children that he had first seen after moving to the small town.
Doc told of a time when there weren’t any known remedies for things he saw in his office. “A guy came in one day, who had a spike driven down through the top of his foot. In today’s world, he would have been whisked off to Bangor or Portland, had an elaborate operating team to work on him and spent recovery time in the hospital. But back then, all I could do was cut away his boot and his sock around the spike, inject some novocaine around the spike, then took a hammer and pulled it out. I bandaged him up and sent him on his way. He’s still doing well today,” he said.
Billy Jr. decries it to be quite an accomplishment to have been married as long as his parents have. “I have been married 39 years, so I guess it comes from your parents. You see what works for them, and you learn from them.”
“I remember at 16 years old, just knowing that my dad knew nothing about life, but by age 21, I could see why he was a doctor. One time, when I was a teen, my father told me to mow the lawn. I was like, ‘yeah, OK, I’ll get to it.’ Well, two weeks later, dad told me, ‘you WILL mow the lawn tomorrow.’ I said, ‘OK’, and went to sleep. The next morning, dad came and tapped me on the shoulder saying, ‘It’s time to mow the lawn, and you had better get it done quick.’ I soon found out what the hurry was as I stepped outside to two inches of snow on the ground. But, I mowed the lawn, and dad likes to tell everyone that our street had never had so much traffic as that day, when everyone wanted to see the doctor’s son mowing in the snow,” he said.
Doc and Freddie’s youngest son, John, said he is very fortunate his parents put up with him. “There was no misbehaving when we were small, or we got the ‘big 5’. (He demonstrates this by holding up his hand) Didn’t hurt us either. I remember always sitting down to meals together, and there was no fighting allowed. We both got allowances, but we both had job duties to take care of. We didn’t get a car until we graduated from college! Today, kids think they have to have one at 16,” John said.
“We once had a springer spaniel. It was an older dog, and it liked to run, rather than eat. We only had a 50-foot hose, but ‘Boomer’ was 75 poounds. Mom got the dog dish, but Boomer growled at her. It scared her, so she told dad he was going to have to feed the dog. Well, for five days, dad put up with the growling when he tried to feed him, but he was fed up with it, so he went into the shed and got the broom and ‘reprogrammed’ Boomer. After that, there were no problems at feeding times,” recalled John.
Freddie says she never dreamed she would live this long, let alone be married this long. She recalls when Doc came to Sherman, and picked the worst looking place in town to live. “He came up in February, and I brought the boys up in July. I was a ‘stay-at-home-mom’, and I think that made a big difference in the lives of our sons,” she said.
“Today’s kids get married with the notion that they don’t need to stay married. Couples need to get married knowing that it is for life AND there will be problems. Lots of give and take,” she added.
“Freddie still drives”, said Doc. “It isn’t that she any better at driving, she just doesn’t fall asleep like I do.”
Doc doesn’t feel that there is anything remarkable about himself. “I contribute my age to luck and good health practices. If I had to do it all over again, I’d probably change a thing or two, but, he said with a twinkle in his eye, we would still be married,” he said.
There was a ‘surprise party’ for Doc and Freddie Aug. 29 in the Congregational Church Vestry for friends and family. Over 100 people from the surrounding areas came to wish the couple a happy 70th platinum wedding anniversary.