Articles and Decisions: Marriage Marriage Is The Foundation MARRIAGE IS THE FOUNDATION By: Judge Randy T. Rogers            May 30, 2002                    AMy wife was my life,@ sighed Carl Burton as he responded to the question, AWhat did your marriage mean to you?@ AOne of the happiest days of my life was the day when together we climbed the steps of the courthouse, went into the Probate Court, and got our marriage license.@  But then his eyes moistened and his voice cracked as he shared,  ABut she died a few weeks ago.@  Carl had fought bravely during the war and his body still bears the scars of combat. His 14 medals, including  two Purple Hearts, are tangible symbols of his courage. But with World War II over, and his  commitment to General George Patton=s Third Army a memory, Carl=s next battle was for the heart of the girl next door.   Soon after his return from Europe, while standing on the porch of his boyhood home, he saw Doris, then 17, for the first time, and said, AI=m going to marry that girl.@  For a month she ignored him; on their first date he ignored her when he stumbled across an old Army buddy.  But with candy and flowers on Valentine=s Day, he won her heart once and for all.   When Doris said yes to Carl=s proposal, he knew right where to get the marriage license. He had been to the courthouse many times before. As a boy he and his friends had regularly raced up its steel staircase, chased each other across the white marble tiles of the third floor, and then stopped to look over the dark walnut railing to watch the people scurry from office to office on the floor below. After Carl had returned from the war, he had gone back to the courthouse on Sunday mornings and crowded with many others into a third floor courtroom for the weekly Bible class.   Carl knew where to find the Probate Court. He knew that the clerks who would issue a marriage license could be found in an office with  green  metal file cabinets,  tucked away in the southeast corner of the second floor.   About the same  time that young Carl Burton was chasing his friends around the courthouse, the justices of the Ohio Supreme Court rendered an important legal decision that declared,  AMarriage is the foundation of society.@ In that same decision the justices went on to explain that Amarriage is more than a mere contract,@ and that Athe policy of the law is to fully protect the institution of marriage.@  In a different case decided nearly fifty years later, the justices of the United States  Supreme Court  reached that same conclusion and wrote:   The institution of marriage has played a critical role both in defining the legal entitlements of family members and in developing the decentralized structure of our democratic society.  In recognition of that role . . . state laws . . . express an appropriate preference for the formal family.    The stability of any structure is determined by the strength of its foundation. For more than a hundred years eager couples have climbed the courthouse steps, entered the Probate Court, and left with their marriage licenses in hand. The Butler County Courthouse has weathered many storms and survived both a deadly fire and a devastating flood. Those who built the courthouse understood the importance of the strength of its foundation. The specifications in the original 1885 building contract specified:    All foundations to be of concrete, composed of good hard stone, broken to the  size of hen=s eggs  (none to be larger than will pass through a 2 inch ring) and clean sharp sand, the exact proportions to be hereafter determined by Superintendent, depending upon quality of cement . . .   According to the Supreme Court Amarriage is the foundation of society,@ and just as the courthouse requires a strong foundation in order to endure, so, too, does society. Enduring marriages require the Agood hard stone@of determination, the Aclean sharp sand@ of unselfish commitment, and of course, the Acement@ that holds them together - love.   On a recent visit to the courthouse, a distinguished couple revealed two of the reasons why their marriage has lasted more than sixty-five years. The wife, now in her mid-eighties, observed, AIn our generation, when you got married, you got married for life,@ giving evidence of her understanding of the importance of unselfish commitment. The husband, now in his nineties, but still with a twinkle in his eyes, confided,  AYes, but what keeps you together is love.@   A few days later Carl Burton visited the courthouse. The young soldier who escaped from burning tanks three times, the decorated veteran who later battled cancer and heart disease, said that these were not the hardest things to endure. The hardest thing for this heartbroken husband was losing his Doris, who fought cancer to the end.  AShe was my hero.@    AMarriage is the foundation of society,@ and the stability of society is determined by the strength of its foundation. The determination, commitment, and love in these two marriages, and marriages like these, are the elements that make that foundation strong.

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