Meet the longest married couple in Colorado

By Linda Oppelt

PHOTO: Lucille and Milton Franklin display their Longest Married Couple award. 

COLORADO SPRINGS. Milton and Lucille Franklin met on a blind date almost 74 years ago in Louisiana. Lucille was 19 and Milton was 22 and in the Air Force when they married on August 16, 1952, at St. Peter Claver Catholic Church in New Orleans. 

On Dec. 12, 2025, the Franklins were honored by the Colorado Marriage Encounter Community as the state’s Longest Married Couple for 2025.
Tom and Molly Johnson, Colorado leaders of Marriage Encounter, presented the Franklins with a certificate of recognition and flowers at Holy Apostles’ Mary’s House.

The Franklins were surrounded by family and friends for the event, and afterwards went to a local restaurant to continue the celebration.

According to Gilda Dunn, the Franklins' daughter, “Milton is a retired Air Force Veteran who served on active duty for 22 years and worked at the Air Force Academy in the Civil Service at the Cadet Clinic and the Department of Defense Medical Evaluation Review Board (DoDMERB) for another 22 years. Lucille was a licensed Cosmetologist in Illinois and Colorado.”

Charter members of Holy Apostles Parish, the Franklins still live near the church. They are the proud parents of three children, six grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

"They say, ‘love, honor, and obey.’ But they never specified who was to obey who! So we had to start by flipping a coin," Milton Franklin joked.  
Turning serious, he explained the keys to their marriage's longevity. 

“First of all, it was luck, to find the right person. We found each other. We saw that we were compatible. We both shared the same religion. We both attended Catholic schools. And we had a lot in common when we fell in love.”

The way they solved problems was also an important aspect of their marriage, listening to each other — talking to each other politely, and treating each other with respect, he said. 

“We’d always talk it over, kiss each other good night. We’d try to never go to bed angry. We always said our prayers, and, most times the problems were solved, somewhere in the middle of the night. That’s how we hung in there.”

Lucille Franklin shared the story of their simple wedding, which took place shortly after she graduated from high school. Due to Milton being in the Air Force, they had just a few weeks to get married when he was on furlough.

“We didn’t have anything. Everybody chipped in for the wedding, and my clothes. My neighbor said, ‘I’ll be in the wedding,' and she made her dress. Another neighbor I knew made hers. And another lady had a little girl, and she was the flower girl. All this was done in a week. Another neighbor bought a beautiful cake, and we had the reception in the back yard. They had a juke box back there. We played it, we danced and we enjoyed it. So that was our wedding. We didn’t have anything, but I loved him.”

Worldwide Marriage Encounter sponsors the Longest Married Couple Project each year, to celebrate and honor marriage. Last year’s winners for Colorado were also from Colorado Springs — Bill and Ruth Carew of St. Mary’s Cathedral. A couple must be nominated to be considered, and a couple can only win once. The nomination period is May 15 to Sept. 1. For more information and to nominate a couple, see https://wwme.org/community/sponsored-events/longest-married-couple/.

(Linda Oppelt is administrative assistant for The Herald.)