In 1966, a first class stamp was 5 cents, gas cost 32 cents/gallon, and a new home averaged $14,000. "The Sound of Music" won Best Picture, and Twister was a popular new game. LBJ was president, we were bombing Hanoi, and there were continued antiwar protests around the country … It was a tumultuous time, but love was in the air! The top songs that year were “Cherish,” “You’re My Soul and Inspiration,” “Good Lovin’,” “A Groovy Kind of Love,” and “When a Man Loves a Woman.”

Jon and Doris South made the wedding march their song on May 7, 1966, when they married before 200 friends and family at Delray Baptist Church in Alexandria, Virginia.

Their 50th anniversary was celebrated on Sunday, May 1, with nearly 100 family and friends at a festive luncheon held by Boothbay Baptist Church, where the Souths have been longtime active members.

Jon grew up the younger of two boys in the Philadelphia area. After prep school and college he became a high school physics teacher and developed his own personal ministry to students, leading youth group Bible studies. In addition to making physics a very popular course, he also became known for his spontaneous ability to create puns for any situation.

Doris grew up in Alexandria, Virginia. The oldest of seven daughters, she became adept at caring for her family, a role she has followed throughout her life. When she was a senior at George Washington High School, Mr. South was teaching there. She did not have him for a teacher but met him at church. She was 19; he was 29. A fellow student said to Doris, “You should marry Mr. South and take care of him.” That girl may never know how prophetic she was.

They dated for nine months on a teacher’s salary, enjoying bike or scooter rides, taking teens to Youth for Christ rallies every Saturday night, going to the movies on free passes, or attending church together. A match made in Heaven, one might say. There was no fancy proposal or luxurious honeymoon; since he was teaching, they only went away for their wedding night and were back in church the next day. They were committed to each other and to the Lord … and we see that commitment still.

Jon taught, and physics became so popular that the number of classes doubled and he had to have help teaching. More girls were taking physics. Two of his students became astronauts, one a female who went on the first space shuttle following the Challenger explosion. He would tell the story of standing on the lab table during one class, teaching about vectors, when he suddenly slipped into the sink in the middle of the table. He told students he had that sinking feeling. His students took to trying to out-pun him. He made physics understandable and fun. Yet he was also able to invite them, public school students, to his Bible studies.

He and Doris, who was working as a bookkeeper in the medical field, together made it a ministry to have teens over to their house every Wednesday night for dinner and a Bible study, as well as take them to Youth for Christ or Navigators events. They reached hundreds of students over 22 years, and are still in touch with many of them, one of whom became a missionary. What an amazing influence they have had!

And it continued when they retired and moved here to Boothbay in 1993. Jon had grown up taking the train to Midcoast Maine with his family every summer, and he and Doris had continued to vacation in this area. They bought land and built a house on Sawyer’s Island. Jon substituted in the high school here and tutored. Doris volunteered in the community as a FISH driver and took courses to be a home health and hospice volunteer, a skill that has served her well in caring for her late mother for 4.5 years and now for Jon, wheelchair-bound with Parkinson’s disease. They both have been active at Boothbay Baptist Church, leading Vacation Bible School for many years and taking part in or supporting other ministries. Doris has served on almost every board or committee, and at one point when kids were asked who runs the church their answer was “Doris!”

They have indeed been faithful – to each other, to their church families, and to the Lord.