67 years of marriage & still going strong

DESERT AIRE - Claude and Ora Houghtaling (pronounced hoteling) are 90 and 91, have been married 67 years and are still going strong.

Oh, they suffer some of the aches and pains of aging, but they don't complain. They look forward to their 68th anniversary on July 3.

The Houghtalings were among the first couples to buy a lot at Desert Aire. After visiting Claude's mother in Mabton one day in 1970, they headed back to western Washington by way of Highway 243.

"We had heard about Harry Davidson's new resort on the radio," Ora said.

The Houghtalings were acquainted with Davidson's work in western Washington and appreciated it. This might be their chance to have a vacation home.

"There were no houses," Claude said. "We found the sales team in a tent."

The Houghtalings bought their land but didn't move until fully retiring in 1985. For a while, they used the land as a vacation spot, coming over with their camper.

Claude is Lynden born and Coupeville raised. Ora was born in Portland and raised in Eatonville. The first time their paths might have crossed was in early 1940s, when both served in the U.S. Marine Corps.

Claude enlisted at the age of 17 in 1941 before Pearl Harbor. Like many other American teens, he was ready to serve as war seemed to be approaching. He was still waiting to be called to basic training when Japan bombed the Hawaiian navy base. Then the call was sudden.

Claude served in the South Pacific, mostly the Solomon Islands, but he never saw any real scrapes. He was a PB-1 flight crew member. Only the plane fired on the enemy.

"I was lucky," he said. "We were night fighters, and we patrolled all around."

Claude was commended for heroism in the only real scrape he had. His plane crashed at Bougainville, and he rescued the pilot, the co-pilot and a passenger from the burning wreckage in spite of the danger to himself.

"I was just going like mad, not worrying about it," he said.

The only lament was that Claude was unable to save the "top secret" cargo. Someone had loaded the beer improperly, and the plane was out of balance.

Meanwhile, Ora joined the Marines in 1943. She was sent to North Carolina for the duration of the war to work in the PX system. She went to work for Northwest Airlines in Seattle after her stint ended in 1945.

When Claude left the Marines after five and a half years, he went to work for NWA. He thought he was going to be a mechanic, but he got the job of loading airliners with coffee.

That was at Boeing Field, before Sea-Tac even existed. It was well before modern amenities were even imagined.

Claude had to get his coffee at the Sky Room, a coffee shop where Ora worked the counter and waitressed. They noticed each other, but he was more eager than her to make contact.

"There must be something about me that bothers him," she thought.

One day Ora was offering Valentine's chocolates out of a heart-shaped box. Claude saw an opportunity.

"I took my share," he said.

He wasn't even bothered that another man had given Ora the candies.

Claude and Ora married on July 3, 1946 in Ora's sister's back yard in Kirkland.

Northwest was about to go through a strike that year. Claude, still a reserve Marine, didn't want his new family to suffer one. So he went back into the active duty Marines and became an instructor at Sand Point Naval Station near Seattle.

While there, Claude was recruited away from the Marines to a career in the U.S. Air Force. Working out of a tavern at the gate to Sand Point, AF recruiters did a brisk business.

Claude served in Hawaii during Korea and Thailand during Vietnam. Ora and the family lived wherever he was sent.

"We had a good life," Ora said. "Moved a lot. Saw lots of country. Claude went from working on his first car - Model A Ford - to aircraft engines to jet engines."

After 28 years of service, Claude retired from the AF in 1968 with the highest non-commissioned rank of Chief Master Sergeant.

The Houghtalings settled on Whidbey Island and built a home. Claude worked for a while and did countless volunteer rescue missions for the Coast Guard with his own boat.

In 1985, the Houghtalings wanted more of the constant sun at Desert Aire. They placed a house on their lot and moved in.