As they prepare to celebrate their 75th wedding anniversary on Saturday, Aug. 25, Cline and Mary Farthing are  proof that marriage rocks -- especially when they're seated side-by-side in twin rocking chairs on the front porch.

That's pretty much the way it's been for the last few years, but neither one is complaining.

"It's gotten kinda monotonous," Cline said, referring to "talking about it" -- and not the marriage itself.

"It's all been said and done, there's nothing new to tell. Just write what you did five years ago and nobody will ever know the difference," he said.

Five years ago, Mountain Times Publications visited the Farthings as they celebrated what, even then, was a major milestone. Now, it's an even greater day on Goshen Creek as the couple anticipates another special celebration.

This time, however, the eating and singing -- and dancing, if there is any -- will be in the couple's yard.

"We're just not able to go out much anymore, so the party will have to come to us," Cline said.

It's been a long and interesting journey, they said.

"But, I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world," Mary said.

They met while they were students at Appalachian State Teachers' College in Boone, Cline said, emphasizing that it was accidental that they got together.

"I had no inclinations toward courting and even less notions of marrying," he said, "at least until I had completed my education."

"Like all the other girls, I just wanted to get married," Mary said.

She said she already had a boyfriend who was studying to be a preacher when she met Cline, who said that "back then, if a girl wasn't married by 18, she was considered an old maid, but all I could think about was athletics and finishing school."

"That was my life," he said. "No time or room for a girl."

Mary changed his thinking, but about a year passed before they got serious "and two more before we married," she said

Raised in the Bethel community, Cline said he never fit into a pattern.

"I had nothing close to a normal upbringing," he said.

Cline attended a small high school in Bethel and graduated from high school through classes at Lees-McRae Junior College in Banner Elk, where he lived and worked his way through school.

"I went on to Appalachian and, with an extra year, finished with three majors  -- science, history and physical education," he said.

Cline was known for his intellect and his athletic ability. He was at the top of his class at Lees-McRae and the first physics student at Appalachian, as well as a star football player who, many years later, was later inducted into the school's sports hall of fame.  

Simultaneously, Mary, a Caldwell County native, obtained her teaching certificate, and finishing a year earlier than Cline, left the mountain for her first teaching job, near Fayetteville.

A long-distance romance ensued.

Cline accepted a combined teaching and coaching job in Asheville, which he said, "didn't pay enough to live on."

He taught for five years, at various locations, before returning to school and eventually moving to Baltimore to work as a management engineer with Martin Aircraft Co.

The couple married in the meantime, in Mountain City, Tenn.

"It was cheaper there, Cline said, "and no waiting."

They lived in Maryland for 10 years "all during the war," he said.

Cline took a job with Bell Telephone, moved his family to Winston-Salem and retired after 30 years.

Mary taught for 17 years. "Just wherever he was working at the time," she said.

Even retirement wasn't "normal," Cline said.

"I had a real estate operation on Oak Island, where I bought and sold property for about 12 years, after I left Bell Telephone. I finally sold out and bought this place," he said. "For about 20 years, we split our time between here and Florida."

"Driving became a hassle," Mary said, "and at 92, we decided it was best to stay in one place."

"We've always loved the mountains," she said. "The last few years, our lifestyle has been more relaxed. We have no clocks to watch and just spend our time rocking on the front porch."

Cline and Mary had been relatively healthy, until Cline developed congestive heart failure two years ago and was critically ill for a time.

"I was in the hospital," he said. "They called hospice in, but as you can see now, I'm fairing pretty good."

"They are doing well because of the four wonderful ladies and the whole village around them that takes care of them," said their daughter, Abbey Courtney, a retired teacher who was recently widowed, living in Kelso, Wash. The couple has another daughter, Victoria Leonard, a veterinarian in Stafford, Va. They also have two grandchildren.

Cline's decreased mobility has halted his longtime ritual of preparing their breakfast each morning.

"He used to fix us bacon and eggs," Mary said, "And, we've always drank lots of milk. We still do, but someone else does the cooking. We have good help and our niece and her husband live across the driveway from us. They are so good to help us."

Both have passed their 97th birthdays, with Mary's 98th coming in October.

They said they've had a good life and have enjoyed a lot of travel.

"We're content right here, right now and don't go off the place much, anymore," Cline said.

The admiration they have for each other is evident.

"She's been a good wife," Cline said. "I was lucky to get her. She took an awful chance when she married me. Her life hasn't been a bed of roses. She had $30 to her name when she married me and that was more than I had."

"Cline has been very good to me," Mary said. "I wouldn't have had it any other way."

Cline has had a fascination with music since childhood.

"There was nothing else to entertain you back then, except for what you could come up with on your own," he said.

It was just natural to sit around the fire at night and sing, he said.

"Someone might have had an old guitar they would start banging on, but it was something we all picked up by trial and error," he said. "There was nobody teaching you."

As an adult, Cline took formal music lessons and, upon retirement, joined a local group of musicians known as "The Aristocrats."

"We performed at the local senior centers and anywhere anyone would have us," Cline said. "We got old and some started dying out, so the band dissolved."

He especially loves big-band music, but also "anything done professionally."

Mary always enjoyed cooking, needlework and flowers, but visual loss slowed her down in recent years. Even legally blind, she continued to sew quilt pieces and grow flowers.

When asked about advice for young couples today, Mary said, "Just be kind to each other and don't go in debt."

"I've never been given much advice that was worth much," Cline said. "Anything I'd advise anyone wouldn't apply in today's world."

 Times are different now, he said.

"Nobody really cares what worked for us, but when I came along, everyone always told me to save my money," he said. "Well, nobody saves anything in this day and time. They spend not only everything they can make, but everything they can borrow, too. Anything a 97-year- old has to say wouldn't carry much weight today."

Life was entirely different when he was a child, Cline said.

"We lived in a rural society and every man had a house and a couple of acres to farm on -- and chickens, a hog, a cow and a horse -- and he raised his own food," he said. "You can't find a hog anywhere around Boone anymore."  

The good old days are never far from their minds.

"I never expected to make it this far," he said.

When asked what he attributed to his longevity, Cline replied: "Good luck is about all I know."