Roger and Karen Jo Gounaud celebrate 50th anniversary
Pastor Roger L. and Karen Jo Gounaud of Columbia recently celebrated their golden wedding anniversary. They were married June 24, 1967, in Madison, New Jersey.
Their children are Kevin Gounaud and his wife, Kathy, of Sterling, Virginia, and Kristi Bothur and her husband, Eric, of Columbia. They have eight grandchildren: Hannah Gounaud, 15; Timothy Gounaud, 13; Joshua Gounaud, 11; Lydia Bothur, 9; Samuel Gounaud, 6; Caleb Bothur, 5; Isaac Gounaud, 5; and Ezekiel Gounaud, 2.
The couple’s son and his family hosted a party in Virginia, where Roger and Karen Jo had lived in the 1980s and 1990s, at the end of Roger’s 25 years as a rocket scientist in the Air Force with rank of colonel.
Their daughter and her family hosted a party in Columbia, where Roger and Karen Jo moved to in 2000 so Roger could go to school at Columbia International University and become “Pastor Roger” at Southeast Community Church.
“Jesus Christ and the Christian faith are foundational to the strength and joy of our marriage,” Karen Jo writes.
In her own words
Q: How did you meet?
A: Music brought us together in 1962, when I was 15 and he was 19. He heard me singing in our high school church choir and liked what he heard. So he went to an alumni Christmas party to try and meet me – which he did, and he gave me a ride home. “I’ll take you home,” were the first words I ever heard this tall, handsome stranger say when I discovered my ride had left without me. Roger even walked me to the door, got my phone number, and called me soon after to ask me out. (My mother was impressed that he had installed seat belts in his 1950 Chevy.) Five years later, we were married. He had to wait for me to grow up. My mom didn’t want me to be a teenage bride! Throughout our marriage, I continued to teach, sing, play, and write music including five Christian musicals for children. (One called “We Were There,” about the children in the Bible who met Jesus, was presented by Spring Valley Baptist Church in Columbia.) Throughout all the music in our marriage, Roger was my favorite and best sound and recording engineer, including teaching children the right way to use a microphone!
Q: What was your favorite part of your wedding day?
A: When Roger’s brother Bob caught the garter and Bob’s girlfriend, Jo Ann, caught the bouquet which required her to jump up at least a foot, with both feet off the ground. We’ve got the picture to prove it. They were married a few years later and today are also approaching their 50th anniversary. They’ve been wonderful in-laws! Roger’s other two brothers will also have golden anniversaries in the next few years. And all four boys are still married to their first wives! Including my Roger.
Q: What do you wish you’d known your first year of marriage?
A: How to cook. Fortunately, Roger was very patient and already knew cooking. Between the two of us, we didn’t starve. A Farberware indoor cooking grill became our favorite wedding gift. Best of all, Roger was very willing to help clean up after dinner – even before we got our first dishwasher almost 10 years later!
Q: Tell us about a favorite moment in your marriage.
A: A few years ago, I talked Roger into buying me a baby grand piano at a one-day piano sale. I won him over by saying that if he got me the piano, I wouldn’t expect any more presents – not for Christmas, birthdays, Valentine’s Day, even our anniversaries – until our golden wedding anniversary! He still brought me occasional surprises anyway and took me out to eat every Friday (our official “date night”). But the golden is here now, so the regular presents can start flowing again!