Larry and Barbara Lister celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary on June 24, 2012. They were married in Palo Alto, Calif. on June 24, 1962.

They met at a roller skating place when Barbara Lister was 16 and her sister bowled Larry Lister over while roller skating.

“I really did pick him up at the skate place,” Barbara Lister said.

After suffering a number of cancers and more than 100 surgeries, Barbara Lister said most men would have left, but Larry Lister never did.

“We can really say we have lived through hell and high water, but as long as we have each other we feel we have and can wallop anything. We still go on dates and he still calls me his bride and is a wonderful husband, father, grandfather. I feel very blessed to have made it through these 50 years with him,” Barbara Lister said.

The couple has lived in Oak Harbor for 22 years and have three grown daughters, six grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.