On Dec. 26 of this year, Lloyd and Bobbi Roper will reach a rare milestone. They will celebrate 70 years of marriage – their very own Platinum Jubilee. Their love story began in the hallways of Emma Sansom high school in Gadsden and is still going strong today.

“We had one class together. I was a senior and she was a junior and I used to watch her walk down the hall,” Lloyd said. “I’d lag behind on purpose just to see her.”

Bobbi and Lloyd grew up together and she sat behind him in class.

“He had the prettiest hair. He was so good looking and wore boots all the time. He just caught my eye and evidently, I caught his, too,” she said.

The two began dating his senior year in 1951 and dated a little over a year. Lloyd joined the Navy after graduating from high school a semester early. With him away, their courtship was a bit unusual.

“Our courtship was done through the mail. We didn’t have cell phones where we could talk to each other every day,” Bobbi said.

They wrote letters back and forth and their love persevered. Lloyd was home from the Navy for Christmas. On the day after the holiday, they made a major decision.

“We eloped on $20,” Bobbi said with a laugh. Lloyd said that he borrowed the money from his mother. “Yeah, and I paid it back,” she said.

Lloyd and Bobbi eloped to Trenton, Ga., to what she called “a marriage factory.”

“You could get your blood test,” she said. “You could buy a corsage. The preacher was named I.V. Wheeler,” she said. The preacher’s wife served as the witness to the marriage.

“We had to go to the preacher’s house. He was a Church of Christ preacher,” Lloyd said. The $20 was enough for the gas, the license and everything they needed for the elopement.

Lloyd’s parent knew where the young couple was going but Bobbi’s parents simply thought she was dressed up for a date. How did they take the news when she returned home as Lloyd’s wife?

“Well, it was late at night, so we went in and my parents were asleep in the bed. I went in and showed my mother my hand and that I had a wedding band on. She thought I had given him the engagement ring back, because we would break up and I had given that ring back two or three times. She thought I had just gotten my ring back. I told her, but she was half asleep and muttered congratulations,” Bobbi said.

They spent their actual wedding night at Lloyd’s parents house, but they had very little time to enjoy it as Lloyd had to leave at 3 a.m. to catch a bus back to Norfolk, Va., with the Navy.

“After he left, I got to wondering, ‘Is this what its like to be married?’” she said. “We’ve had a good marriage and we are still having a good marriage.”

On the Roper’s 50th Anniversary, they remarried in a church.

“I made an honest woman out of her,” Lloyd joked.

After retirement, Lloyd and Bobbi enjoyed traveling the country in their RV.

“It was fun when we were younger to do that,” Bobbi said. Lloyd’s eyesight began to deteriorate and the Ropers began searching for new things to do. The Ropers had three sons and moved to Athens to be closer to their children and their families.

“We should have been here 20 years ago,” Lloyd said.

“We love Athens. This is the sweetest little town,” Bobbi said.

The Ropers started the popular line-dancing classes at the Athens Senior Center in 2019. They are regulars now at the Athens Activity Center. They still enjoy dancing at the center and socializing with new friends. On special occasions, Lloyd can be found dancing dressed as Elvis with his Priscilla by his side.

“It takes both of us to do things. Lloyd is losing his eyesight, but I have good eyesight. I wear hearing aids and can’t hear very well but he can hear. It takes both of us. We just feel blessed.We are just thankful to the Lord. Give Him the credit for it,” Bobbi said.