—Tying the Knot—
June wedding proves solid
as couple celebrates 50 years

Perry and Prissy Schanefelt, left, recently celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary with several hundred family members and friends at a weekend celebration at Kamp Kiwanis. The couble is shown with their five daughters: Jackie, Berni, Sylvia Anne, Alex, and Geraldine. [courtesy photo]

ABOVE: Perry and Prissy Schanefelt recently celevrated their 50th wedding anniversary with several hundred family members and friends at a weekend celebration at Kamp Kiwanis. The couple met in a downtown Gallup drug store in 1957. BELOW: Precilliana "Prissy" Martinez and Perry Schanefelt pose for theif wedding photograph at Sacred Heart Cathedral in this 1958 family photograph. [courtesy photos]

By Elizabeth Hardin-Burrola
Staff writer

GALLUP — Summertime is traditionally the season most couples choose to marry. But in this day of high divorce rates and even higher cohabitation break-up rates, fewer couples are choosing to marry and fewer still are staying married for a lifetime.

However, for Perry and Prissy Schanefelt of Gallup, their summertime wedding is something they are still celebrating — 50 years later. The couple, along with their five daughters, 10 grandchildren, and one great-grandson, recently celebrated their 50th anniversary with hundreds of relatives and friends during a weekend gathering at Kamp Kiwanis.
In a recent interview, the Schanefelts talked about their life together and how they have not only beaten society’s odds against long marriages, but how their marriage has also overcome religious and cultural differences and the difficulties of young love.

Early blessings

Like all romances, Perry and Prissy’s began with a spark. He was a 19-year-old radar operator from Texas, newly assigned to the Air Force radar site at Continental Divide when he walked into a Coal Avenue drug store in downtown Gallup and saw a pretty teenage girl working behind the store’s lunch counter. Preciliana “Prissy” Martinez had lied about her age in order to get the job, and there she was wearing red pants and red lipstick. According to Perry, she had “the prettiest hands in Gallup,” and he was attracted to her outgoing and sunny personality.

The couple hit it off immediately and were soon engaged.

Differences that have sidelined other couples didn’t prove to be obstacles to them. Perry was an Anglo from Pampa, Texas, a town steeped in the racial prejudice of the 1950s. Although Perry’s family didn’t share the bigoted views of some of their neighbors, Pampa was at that time a town where Hispanic men couldn’t get a haircut in the white barber shop and where the stifling peer pressure kept Perry from asking a Hispanic girl out on a date.

Prissy’s parents, Mayme and John B. Martinez, however, welcomed their daughter’s tall and lanky Anglo boyfriend with open arms.

“They liked him instantly,” recalled Prissy, who explained her parents were impressed with Perry’s hardworking nature and his willingness to help around their house.

“Her dad kind of took care of me,” recalled Perry, who said he grew especially close to Prissy’s father, who eventually built the couple a house next to the Martinez home.

With their engagement, Perry converted to the Catholic faith, and Prissy’s parents became his godparents. In June 1958, at the end of Prissy’s junior year of high school, Perry and Prissy were married at Sacred Heart Cathedral. After the ceremony, the newlyweds went to the Martinez home where they knelt down before Prissy’s parents and received their parental blessing. Prissy said the first night of their honeymoon they also knelt down together and thanked God for their marriage and asked for his blessings.

“We’ve had that third person — God — in our marriage our whole life,” she explained.

Family focus

Like all long marriages, the Schanefelts have experienced their “for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health” periods of time. The worse time, the couple said, was when their 1-year-old daughter, Bernadine, was struck with cerebral meningitis, went into a coma, and had to have brain surgery. Although Perry and Prissy were given dire predictions about their daughter’s fate, Bernadine survived the ordeal with some resulting physical disabilities. But like all their daughters, she did well in school and went on to graduate from college.

The couple also lived through some lean years when Perry quit his job in order to pursue a mechanical engineering degree at Northern Arizona University. They moved with their five girls into a two bedroom campus apartment, and Prissy became the sole breadwinner for nearly four years. Perry’s plans for a degree ended a semester early when Prissy was involved in a serious car accident.

“She only missed death by this much,” said Perry of the accident, holding his thumb and forefinger about an inch apart. “She’s a miracle.”

Prissy has not been spared from serious illness, however. She has suffered from a number of health problems during their marriage, some of which are a result of her five pregnancies in quick succession and four C-section deliveries. Through it all, she said, Perry has been extremely supportive of her — right down to the nightly foot massages he gives her.

In addition to his foot massages, Perry enjoys giving Prissy gifts of bright red lipstick and nail polish — part of her trademark fashion style that caught his eye so many years ago. When asked about the success of their marriage, Perry shook his head at those who walk away from their marriages due to tough times. “There’s always a solution,” he said, “you just have to look for it.”

For Prissy, she believes she and Perry have been happy because they’ve made it a daily habit to show affection, respect each other as best friends, and extend common courtesy to each other.

The couple has also always made family life a priority, and they are known for their family gatherings and celebrations. From celebrating a grandchild’s good grades to throwing their recent 50th wedding anniversary bash, Perry and Prissy appreciate the blessings they’ve been given as a couple and a family.

“Name it, we celebrate it,” said Prissy. “Life is too precious. It’s too short not to celebrate it.”