Carsten and Louise Johnsen tell their tale

As it happened just over 70 years ago, they probably can be excused for disagreeing over one aspect of just exactly how it happened.

Now, 89 and 87, respectively, Carsten and Louise Johnsen both agree they were on their way to a dance. Carsten says that at some point during that drive, she suggested they get married. Louise says that at some point during that drive, he suggested they get married. Sitting in the living room of their Kenmore home just a few days prior to celebrating a very rare seven decades of marriage, the disagreement doesn’t seem to bother them.

“We just leave it,” Louise said.

Whoever asked, the other said, “yes,” and Louise adds they spent the next few hours on the phone trying to figure out exactly how they could pull off a quick ceremony. He was 19, home for a few days from serving on board an Army Corps of Engineer dredging boat. She was 17, still in high school. Back then, home for the pair was South Bend, Wash., a small town in the southwest corner of the state. On March 31, 1939, they ended up tying the knot in Vancouver, Wash., that being the location with, at the time, the most lax local rules regarding marriage.

For example, the rules in Portland would have required Carsten and Louise to have a physical and wait four days, which neither wanted to do. They actually sped things up by a day because Carsten’s mother didn’t want them to say their vows on April 1 — in other words, April Fool’s Day. That was the only objection the couple say their parents expressed after discovering their plans.

“In our little town, you went to school, then you got married ... that’s just how it was,” Louise said.

Both Carsten and Louise note the Great Depression was still very much with the country and neither his nor Louise’s family had much money.

“Both families were probably just glad to get rid of us,” he said.

Since the wedding day arrived before what was his next pay day, Carsten had to borrow $5 for the wedding license. He also needed the loan of a white shirt for the occasion. There are no pictures of the wedding.

“Nobody had a camera, nobody could afford one,” Louise said.

While Carsten joked about their respective families getting rid of them, in reality he went back to his boat and she continued living at home and going to school. Not surprisingly, the pair went through school together. He was an athlete and captain of the football team among other accomplishments, while she was a “yell leader,” or cheerleader. After their marriage, Carsten stayed on the dredger for a few years, though he didn’t like the job very much. Eventually, he got offered a clerk’s position in Portland and jumped at the chance. Though they had no family there and knew virtually no one in that city, the couple quickly moved south and considered themselves lucky.

Cartsen’s starting salary: $1,110 a year.

Ultimately, the couple stayed in Portland for about 13 years. World War II came and went, during which Carsten spent two years in the Air Force. By then a young mother and in need of some extra money, Louise spent a year as a welder. Following the war, Carsten eventually got a job in the Seattle area as a lumberjack, a circumstance that turned out to mark a major turning point in both their lives.

After working for a few years for somebody else, Carsten and a friend went into business for themselves as lumber brokers. Using Carsten’s connections with the Army Corps of Engineers, Kennedy-Johnsen Lumber Inc., became what Carsten described as the country’s top supplier of lumber to the U.S. government. The company soon became Cartsen’s life’s work. With a smile, Carsten notes the company name landed them on the front page of the Seattle Times during a certain presidential election.

Not incidentally, the business is decidedly a family one, with son Steve Johnsen now involved with the Snohomish-based firm. Carsten retired in 2000.

Having lived in Kenmore for about 50 years, Louise said the major change she’s noticed is, not surprisingly, the growth of the area. The couple have been members of the Inglemoor Country Club for 53 years and are still avid golfers. They did have to give up boating and fishing but both decidedly appear to be on the younger side of their late 80s.

Still, the obvious question that has to be asked here is, how do two people stay together for so long? Carsten lets Louise handle what is apparently a pretty common question for the couple.

“You just have to be in love,” Louise said. She then pauses.

“That doesn’t mean I haven’t wanted to slit his throat,” she added.

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