KANSAS CITY, Mo — Plenty of people come and go along a trail in North Kansas City's Macken Park.
Until a few years ago, Don and Mary Lou Hennier walked it two to three times a day.
"Every morning, we get up and say, 'Thank you God for one more day," Mary Lou Hennier said. "We just go one day at a time."
Four children, three granddaughters, and three great granddaughters later, they've lived a full life.
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"Here we are. Amazing, we're still alive," she said.
It was the summer of 1950 when they first met.
"How did we meet? Should I start? We met on the streetcar over at 24th and Lister," Mary Lou Hennier said.
The rest is history.
"We had an exciting beginning being together," Don Honnier said.
"Really?" Mary Lou Hennier said with a laugh.
Reminiscing on the past is natural when they're sitting on their own bench in the park.
"In December 2010, as a gift for our 60th wedding anniversary, our kids bought us a bench and put it right here. They picked out the spot and put it right here. That was 13 years ago, and it was well worn; I told them that we would replace it, but then somebody else got it started," Mary Lou Hennier said.
That somebody was NKC Councilman Jesse Smith, who helped pull together more than $1,000 in donations to get the couple a new bench just in time for their anniversary.
"Any big memories on our 73 years Don?" Mary Lou Hennier asked.
He replied: "Well, the reason I left was I got drafted into the Army — she came over on a nice boat."
It took Mary Lou seven days to get to him in Germany, and seven days to get home. After all these years, they know marriage has never been a walk in the park.
"We had many highs and we had a few lows too, but we conquered those and went back to the highs," they said.
The Henniers said 90% of your happiness is who you marry. They said it was easy then and it's easy now.
"You gotta be in love first," Don Hennier said.
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