To have and to hold ... for 83 years and counting

Updated: February 18, 2008 - 5:49 AM

A White Bear Lake couple that marked their 83rd wedding anniversary Sunday may be headed for the Guinness Book of Records.

Clarence and Mayme Vail, 101 and 99 years old respectively, celebrated their wedding anniversary on Sunday with a big family party. They were married on Feb. 2, 1925, when Mayme was 16 years old, and had six children.

Photo: David Brewster, Dml - Star Tribune

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Eight decades after heading down the aisle, a White Bear Lake couple may be headed for the Guinness Book of Records.

Clarence, 101, and Mayme Vail, 99, celebrated their 83rd anniversary Sunday, possibly making them the longest married couple alive in the United States.

Married in 1925, they almost didn't make it to their 25th anniversary. When Clarence became critically ill with tuberculosis in 1948, Mayme made a promise to God that if her husband survived, she would attend mass every day -- a promise she kept until last year when health issues forced them to move into an assisted-living center.

"She's got good genes; she used to walk to mass every day," said her daughter, Arlene Leyden of St. Paul, who filled out the 17 pages of paperwork required by the Guinness record-keepers.

There was no shortage of people to attend the Vails' anniversary party. Their family includes six children, 39 grandchildren, 101 great-grandchildren and 40 great-great grandchildren. Mayme Vail's "kid" sister was there, too. She's only 98.

JEFF STRICKLER