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Maui couple marks 70th wedding anniversary

Pillsbury Bake-off Contest brought Hanusas to Hawaii 50 years ago

By Dakota Grossman 4 min read

WAILUKU -- While sitting close together in their Wailuku home, a couple that's been together for seven decades said it takes mutual respect, patience, laughter and love to have a strong and healthy marriage.

Achieving the 70-year marriage benchmark is a rare feat that Bob and Maggie Hanusa reach today as they celebrate their 70th wedding anniversary.

"We both agree that it was love," Bob said Tuesday afternoon. "But, we also have to give both ways. You can't have one have their way all the time, so mutual respect and mutual ideas."

Their years together were also built by "the Grace of God, and with much faith, love, patience, compromise, laughter, their commitment to each other, perseverance, and a sense of humor," daughter Janet Reindl wrote to The Maui News.

Daughter Ann Tuxford, who lives in New Zealand and is visiting her parents for six weeks, said Tuesday in Wailuku that they never argued.

"That's huge," Tuxford said. "I remember one time they disagreed and all of us kids thought they were going to get a divorce because they never fought -- always very loving and affectionate toward each other."

Their story began as young teens when Maggie lived in California and Bob was in Iowa. Bob's older brother was stationed in Alameda, Calif., in the Coast Guard, and Maggie recalled how her family hosted him for several dinners as church members sometimes did for service members in their Napa community. He asked if Maggie wanted to write a letter to his little brother Bobby, so she did, but his mother was the one who wrote back.

"But, wait a minute," Bob, 92, interrupted with a laugh Tuesday. "What 14-year-old boy is going to write to a 12-year-old girl?"

They wrote letters back and forth for awhile before they finally met at annual youth gatherings in Portland, Ore., beginning in 1948, and it "just went from there," said Maggie, now 90.

On Aug. 31, 1952, Bob and Maggie got married at 22 and 20 years old, respectively.

While going through a few wedding photos, Maggie said he is "a good guy" who treated her well and that the pair grew up in quality Christian homes, which is how she knew he was the one 70 years ago.

"She was beautiful and very nurturing and I loved her," Bob said. "I got the best."

The couple lived in Oakland, Calif. for the first two years of their union while Bob served in search and rescue as part of the U.S. Coast Guard during the Korean War.

They later moved to Iowa where they spent the next 18 years while they raised their five children -- only one currently resides on Maui.

They now have 11 grandkids and one great-grandchild.

Reindl, who now lives in Montana, said that her father worked in the family plumbing business and tended to the yard and garden while her mom cooked, baked, canned the garden produce and pursued her hobby of cake decorating.

Maggie entered the Pillsbury Bake-Off Contest in 1970, but little did she know that it would be "a life-changing event" for her and her family, Reindl said.

Her mother was one of 100 finalists who won a trip to Honolulu for the bake-off championship in February of 1971. After the competition, the couple flew to Maui for just $10, Bob said.

While sitting on Baldwin Beach in Paia, they fell in love with the island and decided that the Valley Isle would be their next home.

"I told him he was crazy," Maggie said.

But, that following year in June of 1972, the whole family moved to Kahului and Bob started his own business called Hanusa Plumbing Service.

The couple traveled the world, which they loved to do together, including visiting six continents and doing over 50 home exchanges with people nationally and internationally. Their favorite destination thus far has been Iceland or the island of Java in Indonesia, Bob said.

"We've had a good marriage," Maggie said. "We really have."

The Hanusas have donated their time and service as members of Emmanuel Lutheran Church in Kahului for 50 years as well as to other organizations on Maui.

The church is where they will be celebrating their 70th anniversary, with a party set for this weekend with many family members and friends.

* Dakota Grossman can be reached at dgrossman@mauinews.com.

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