Titanic, war, faith and fun all part of 70-year marriage

To understand how Joan Soderlund and Paul Souchek of Huntley built a marriage lasting 70 years, listen to them share each other's stories about close calls involving the Titanic and a machine gun.

“My parents had tickets for the Titanic,” begins Joan, 89, explaining how Ester and Henning Soderlund were ready to leave their home in Sweden in 1912 for a new life in the United States.

“But guess what? Their first son was going to be born,” says Paul, 93, the son of Jack and Mary Souchek, who emigrated from Poland or Czechoslovakia, depending on who tells the story.

“Yes, she was pregnant and they wanted the baby to be born in Sweden, so they canceled their trip on the Titanic,” Joan says.

“If they had been on the Titanic, Joan wouldn't have been here, and I would have had to marry something else,” Paul says with a laugh.

“Something else?” Joan says, adding her laugh to her husband's. Then she coaxes him to tell his World War II story.

“Two years, nine months and six days,” Paul starts, explaining his service as an infantry sergeant in the Army making his way across Italy, France and Germany. He and another soldier were shooting at a German bunker when his buddy's machine gun jammed.

Leaning in and grabbing Paul's arm as if she can't wait to hear what happens, Joan urges her husband to get to the part where he and his fellow soldier are making their way back to the American squad and about to be gunned down by friendly fire.

“The Americans thought we were German until we started to argue about that gun,” Paul says.

They giggle as they remember how Paul was supposed to ==say “heart's affections” but said “heart's infections” during their wedding vows. They laugh at the memory of their old Ford dying on their wedding night. They snicker as they tell about how they both were delivered at home by the same doctor. They met at church one December night in 1945 when Paul was a returning veteran and Joan was a schoolgirl too involved with church activities to give him much attention.

“But we figured it out,” Paul says, using one of his favorite expressions during their 70 years of marriage. “We had trouble every once in a while, and the only words I'd say is, 'We'll figure it out.'”

Faith in God and their involvement in the Willow Creek Community Church play a role in their long and happy marriage, as does the good example set by their parents, the couple say.

“We were pretty fortunate,” Joan says. “Both of us are easy to get along with. Our kids were easy to get along with.”

Their anniversary party on Sunday (three days after their anniversary) will include their three children among the 80 guests.

“There is a complement between them,” says daughter Donna Netzley, who lives in California. “She is always ready for everything and in the present with high energy, and my dad is mellow and very peaceful and wise, and is a great believer that everything will work out.”

Those family bonds compelled Joan and Paul to attend all the theater and musical performances and special events involving their seven grandchildren and three great-grandchildren, says daughter Linda Cook, a Wauconda resident who remembers growing up in Itasca with family vacations on the cheap in cars that Paul needed to repair along the way. “There was never any doubt that they loved each other and were committed to each other,” she says.

Their parents taught them to “work with what you've got,” says son Paul Souchek, who lives in Woodstock. “At times, it seemed like an argument, but in retrospect, they were willing to hash things out.”

Or, as his dad jokes, “Keep your mouth shut. That worked for me.”

After a career in construction, where he worked on Chicago's skyscrapers, and a hobby restoring antique radios and fixing anything that was broken, Paul says he supported Joan as she won fistfuls of swimming medals in the Senior Olympics and started an active Scandinavian Club after retiring from a career as a secretary for Alexian Brothers Health System. They helped each other survive health scares in the last few years.

“She got done with her brain tumor and then I got the cancer,” Paul says. “I was taking care of her and then she was taking care of me.”

They've come a long way from that day they decided to get married. “Her father asked, 'Do you know what you're doing?' And I kept my mouth shut. I don't think anybody knows what they're doing,” Paul says.

“But,” Joan says, “we've had a good time.”