At 18 years old, Betty Schulz was told her father wouldn't pay for her college education.
"And I said, 'well I have some loan papers here if you'll sign those I can get a loan to go' and he said, 'I'm not going to pay for that either,'" Betty said.
With her dreams of becoming a writer crushed, Betty didn't know where to turn and looked to her mother for advice.
"She said, 'I know what you need to do. I've been praying for you my whole life and you need to marry that Jack Willis boy who's always hanging around here,'" Betty said.
Betty trusted her mother and decided to follow her heart in a different direction.
Betty and Jack had been dating for a few years before she accepted his proposal.
"He was ready! He was asking me all the time," Betty said.
"Not necessarily formally, but hinting at least," Jack said.
The pair married on August 31, 1958.
"He gave me my engagement ring at a drive-in theatre. Is that romantic enough?" Betty said.
It's been 60 years and Betty hasn't taken her ring off once.
They said knowing when to give each other their space and independence has also kept them happy through the years.
"A sense of humor," Jack said. "Christian beliefs."
'Faith in God and separate bathrooms and separate televisions in two separate rooms," Betty said.
Betty and Jack agree that their secret to success is patience and keeping their promises.
"Too many young people today, when they get to a bump in the road they just want to call it quits," Betty said.
For Betty and Jack, their bump came 20 years in, when one of their three children started to abuse drugs.
"I blamed Jack and he blamed me and that's too hard for most people to get over," Betty said.
But they held on to their faith and one another to get through it.
Along with their three kids, they have four grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.
On top of finding the love of her life, Betty also found her passion.
She and Jack both became realtors. Their success keeps them traveling to tropical destinations all around the world.
"We were in Barbados a month ago. I looked at him and said, 'do you remember when we were in Abbott, did you ever think we'd end up in Barbados?'" Betty said.
A life she never expected, but sometimes mother knows best.
"We've had a good marriage, we have," Betty said. "And we're blessed to have made it this far."
Betty also recently achieved her dream of becoming a writer. She released "Mattie" in 2017 and won a Christian Literary Award for her work in 2018.
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