<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body dir="auto"><div><span></span></div><div><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><div><span></span></div><div><div>Courtesy of today's (August 3, 2016) Lewiston Tribune.</div><div><br></div><div>---------------------------------</div><div><br></div><div><div class="subscriber-only" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="subscriber-preview" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><h1 itemprop="headline" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 42px; margin: 0px 100px 0px 0px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.1; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;">Sealed with a kiss</h1><h2 itemprop="alternativeHeadline" class="subhead" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.1; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); margin: 10px 100px 10px 0px; font-size: 24px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;">Al and Ida Pepe have been married for 75 years, and they still end each day with a smooch</h2><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 27px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">MOSCOW - After 75 years, Al and Ida Pepe are still just happy to be together.</span></p></div><div class="subscriber-preview" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 27px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The Moscow couple celebrated today's wedding anniversary Tuesday at a lunch surrounded by more than 70 friends and family at the 1912 Center. Their marriage has taken them everywhere from New York to Georgia to Idaho, and with the exception of a couple of years during World War II, they have not been apart.</span></p></div><div class="subscriber-only" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 27px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"We just enjoy being together," Ida said. "Once in awhile, we get on each other's nerves, but that's to be understood under the circumstances. But other than that, we've been getting along very, very well all these years."</span></p></div><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 27px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Al and Ida first met during a Halloween scavenger hunt in 1940. They were the last two left in the car after everyone else had paired off, and so they paired together for the activity.</span></p></div><div class="subscriber-only" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 27px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Al and one of his friends were later discussing who would take Ida out first.</span></p></div><div class="subscriber-only" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 27px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"He said, 'I'm taking her out first, and that's it,' " Ida remembered. "And that was it."</span></p></div><div class="subscriber-only" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 27px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The couple were engaged by Easter and married on Aug. 3, 1941.</span></p></div><div class="subscriber-only" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 27px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">It wasn't much later that Al, a combat engineer for the U.S. Army, was shipped to Europe for two years during World War II.</span></p></div><div class="subscriber-only" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 27px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Al recalled operating a bulldozer and building roads while he was overseas.</span></p></div><div class="subscriber-only" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 27px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"They kept me so busy with the machine, I didn't have time to think about anything else," he said.</span></p></div><div class="subscriber-only" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 27px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Ida remembered the many letters he wrote to her, detailing his day's work and the meals that were ready for him when he'd return to camp.</span></p></div><div class="subscriber-only" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 27px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">She remembered, too, the day the Army called and asked her if she was ready to receive her husband.</span></p></div><div class="subscriber-only" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 27px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"And of course, I said, 'Of course I'm ready,' " Ida said.</span></p></div><div class="subscriber-only" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 27px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">He returned to America with a Bronze Star. Al's service then took the couple to Mississippi and to Georgia, where he was discharged in 1946.</span></p></div><div class="subscriber-only" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 27px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"I figured, as long as I can be with him, I was going to do it," Ida said. "I would've gone to Europe if they'd let me, but they wouldn't let me."</span></p></div><div class="subscriber-only" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 27px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The couple then returned to Long Island, N. Y., where they had two daughters - Alida in 1949 and Karin in 1952. The family made their home there for years.</span></p></div><div class="subscriber-only" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 27px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Alida Bockino and Karin Clifford, both Moscow residents, remembered their childhoods with days spent on the beach and big family gatherings with lots of Italian food.</span></p></div><div class="subscriber-only" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 27px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Bockino called it a "kinder, gentler life." Sundays were spent watching feature shows and then pulling out encyclopedias to research the people and places in them.</span></p></div><div id="tncms-region-ads-fixed-big-ad-middle-asset" class="tncms-region-ads" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div id="blox-ad-position-fixed-big-ad-middle-asset1" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px auto 40px;"></div></div><div id="tncms-region-article_instory_middle" class="tncms-region " style="box-sizing: border-box;"></div><div class="subscriber-only" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 27px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Al and Ida moved to Moscow in 1979 to be close to their daughters. It's one of the best things about living where they live, Ida said.</span></p></div><div class="subscriber-only" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 27px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"I like it because my two girls are here," she said.</span></p></div><div class="subscriber-only" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 27px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The couple, both 96, have made friends here, too, and continue to keep busy with lunches every Tuesday and Thursday at the 1912 Center and weekly pinochle games. Ida enjoys cooking and reading, and Al likes working on jigsaw puzzles.</span></p></div><div class="subscriber-only" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 27px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The 75-year marriage hasn't come without hiccups. Ida battled and defeated breast cancer a few years ago after having a mastectomy. She said the couple has otherwise remained in good health, and had highlights like traveling across the country twice in a camper.</span></p></div><div class="subscriber-only" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 27px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"You go along day in and day out," Ida said. "You never think about the fact that you're going to be 75 years married."</span></p></div><div class="subscriber-only" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 27px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">It was easy for the couple to name what's kept them together all these years.</span></p></div><div class="subscriber-only" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 27px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"No matter what kind of day you had - good one, bad one, arguing - don't go to bed mad," Al said.</span></p></div><div class="subscriber-only" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 27px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"Every night, before we go to bed, we kiss and we say 'I love you,' " Ida added. "And we never, ever forget to do that."</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 27px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">--------------------</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 27px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Ida Pepe leans in to give her husband, Al, a kiss during their 75th wedding anniversary celebration at Moscow. (Tribune/Steve Hanks)</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 27px;"><a href="http://www.tomandrodna.com/Photos/DN_080316_Al_Ida_Pepe.jpg">http://www.tomandrodna.com/Photos/DN_080316_Al_Ida_Pepe.jpg</a></p></div></div><div>---------------------------------<br><br><div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Seeya 'round town, Moscow, because . . .</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"Moscow Cares" </span></div><div><a href="http://www.moscowcares.com/" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><font color="#000000">http://www.MoscowCares.com</font></a></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"> </span></div><div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Tom Hansen</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Moscow, Idaho</span></div></div><div><br></div></div></div></div></div></body></html>