Charlie and Donnette Bash will celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary on Dec. 27, 2010.

Charlie Bash was only 17 when he arrived in Washington state from Kansas. His first job was at the Bullerville Mill in Skagit Valley. He met Donnette Swanson for the first time at the neighbor’s barnyard. Donnette was a 16-year-old student going to Concrete High School. Their first date was in a borrowed car to go to the movies.

Later, Charlie would travel from his work in Hanford to see Donnette on the weekends. At the tender age of 19 and

17 they married on Dec. 27, 1950.

Donnette left school, and they moved to Richland, where the work was. They rented a rebuilt chicken coop in Grandville for $20 a month. From humble beginnings, they made a life for themselves and their four children.

When asked how they stayed together so long, they answered, “it was never an option to do otherwise.”