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Show After 65 years of marriage Parowan coirale shares secret PAROWAN Despite 65 years as man and wife, neither Merrill nor Twila Thornton believe in the "perfect couple" theory. "I just don't believe that two people can live together no matter how much they love each other and not argue some times," Twila says. "I'm entitled to my own opinion about things, and .so is he." Husband Merrill agrees, but he's quick to add that "She has been a pretty darn good wife all the way through." Then Twila, with a twinkle in her eye, chips in with "The older you get, the more I believe you dispute each other." The Thorntons apparently ap-parently didn't dispute with each other too much. Each is proudly loyal to the other, and both are extremely proud of their six children: Clint, Las Vegas; Shirley Yancy, Washington; Troy, Bountiful; Hal, Parowan; and Annette Mitchell, Brigham City. Another daughter, Donna Jean died about four years ago. Merrill, who has lived nearly his entire life in Parowan, will be 87 years old next month. Twila Bentley Thornton was raised in Summit. She will be 83 in June. The two were married April 18, 1917, and recently celebrated their 65th anniversary. "Life is exactly what you make of it," Twila says. "It can be great, or it can be miserable. It's all up to you." Then she admonishes everyone to not waste any of life's time. "Start living your life now," she says. "Don't wait for anything. Enjoy it now. We've had a lot of sickness lately, and now l" fir ii ? fin wM fi t ds Jk$s$ i ll i , ' h i ? t-. ft.- A -s M-"' ' i i -A'iL ilJ, 2 A we can't do the things we've planned to do." The Thorntons still enjoy animals. "We've always had animals around, and we've always enjoyed them," Merrill says. A half-dozen ewes with lambs and three horses currently share the quarter-block just west of Main Street where the Thorntons have lived for the : past 50 years. Their house has been paid for since the early 1950s, including a couple of remodeling jobs. Their original mortgage was for $800 and called for monthly payments of $15. Twila has never worked outside the home. Merrill has "done anything I could to earn a living." He has worked each of the past three springs helping to lamb sheep, and he plans to help again this year. Over the years, Merrill has been a truck driver, iron miner, cowboy, sheepherder, horse trainer, lumberjack, farmer, and sheep shearer, among other things. "I've worked any place I could keep a job, and during the depression, I was only on WPA for one month," he says. Every year for nearly 30 springs Merrill sheared sheep, but the most he was ever paid was 12V4 cents per head, plus his board. A couple of the Thornton's happiest hap-piest years were when a group of local men and their wives traveled from Arizona to Montana over a five-month period shearing sheep. "We started in Arizona in February and finished up in mid-July at Chinook, Montana," Merrill remembers. "I sheared about 16,000 sheep myself one year." "Boy, it was tough," Twila says of the depression. "They had a lot of dances then, and I don't think they had a dance that we didn't go to. We always had food and a place tosleep, but it was a tough time." In better times, the Thorntons were also very enthusiastic dancers. "They used to have dances nearly every night from before Christmas until after New Years here and in Paragonah." Twila said. "We'd go to every one of them. After the dance, we'd go to someone's home and eat chile or cook bacon and eggs. We wouldn't get home until it was nearly light the next morning." Although both Merrill and Twila have undergone un-dergone surgery "nearly five times each in the past ten years," both are still very active. "One time we each had operations at different hospitals in Salt Lake City on the same day," Merrill chuckles. Since Merrill's eyesight has started to fail, he seldom attends the horse races he enjoyed so much anymore, but Twila will still be there. "We don't owe anybody a cent," they say. "We plan to do what we can right here for as long as we can. We've had a good life, and we are going to enjoy the rest of it," Twila says firmly. They've been making eyes at each other for over 65 years now, and Merrill and Twila Thornton of Parowan are still at it. Although they admit that there is probably no such thing as "the perfect couple," they say the years have been good ones. |