WICHITA, Kan. - Former Mauians the Revs. Chuck and Patty Darby celebrated their golden wedding anniversary Monday.
They have celebrations planned this month at their son Chase's farm near Arkansas City, Kan., and in December in California with their daughter Naniloha. They will cap off their 50th anniversary celebration with a cruise and trip to Spain next year.
The couple lived on Maui from 1977 to 1991 and ministered for a time at three Assembly of God churches on the island. Mr. Darby worked at the Maui Optical Tracking and Identification Facility and was commander of the Maui Air Guard unit. Mrs. Darby established a preschool on the island.
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The Revs. Chuck and Patty Darby, former Mauians, celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary on Monday
They met for the first time when Mr. Darby was a senior at Willamette University in Salem, Ore. He and his SAE fraternity brother, to whom the future Mrs. Darby was engaged, went on a trip together.
"It was love at first sight," Mr. Darby said in an email.
They were married in Four Corners, Ore., on Oct. 10, 1961.
Patty Dillon Darby was born in Addison, Mich., and her family moved to Wahiawa, Oahu, after World War II. She attended high school in Wahiawa, then the Art Institute in Chicago and eventually made her way to Salem, Ore.
He was born and raised in Portland, Ore., graduating from Milwaukie High School and then Willamette University with a degree in chemistry.
Mr. Darby enlisted in the Air Force after college and served nine years. After he left the service, the couple became evangelists in the U.S. and missionaries in Turkey. Mr. and Mrs. Darby were ordained as Assembly of God ministers in June 1989, while on Maui.
Since then, they have ministered in Colorado and Kansas. Mr. Darby also took jobs with ITT, Space Mark, TSI, Transtecs Corp. and The Boeing Co.
Now retired, they have three children and nine grandchildren.
