Mike Dormaier was just 15 when he was invited to a barbecue to celebrate the 16th birthday of a friend of a friend.
The event turned into a blind date of sorts. He and Jackie McClure, the birthday girl, didn’t click that well, but they did go out a few times.
“It was OK,” Jackie said.
The dates were group dates and Jackie’s cousin came along on one with a friend named Larry. Larry and Jackie hit it off. They went together all four years of high school.
“Mike was still a friend because he and Larry were friends,” Jackie said.
When she turned 19, Jackie and Larry decided to elope. The couple enjoyed a six-year marriage and had a son.
But tragedy struck the family when Larry was killed in an accident on his way to work one morning. Jackie was nine months pregnant.
By this time, Mike had joined the Army. He was stationed overseas in Italy when he heard about his friend’s death. Mike flew home to be a pallbearer.
Jackie struggled and soon lost her home.
“I took the two kids, the goldfish and the car and moved in with my parents,” Jackie said.
Mike began writing to Jackie out of concern for her and her children. She wrote back. When he got out of the service, he came to see her.
Jackie’s parents had helped her to move into another home.
Mike worked on her Ford Mustang and took out her son, who missed his dad. Mike had never been married or had children.
Picnics, hikes and outings soon followed, and Mike and Jackie fell in love.
“He loved the children,” Jackie said. “I knew my husband would approve.”
Mike and Jackie Dormaier of Everett celebrated their 35th wedding anniversary on Sept. 10.
The couple were married Sept. 10, 1972, in Milton-Freewater, Ore.
Mike and Jackie have four children, 13 grandchildren, three great-grandchildren and two foster children.
“I can’t say enough about Mike. He really rescued me,” Jackie said.
Mike and Jackie didn’t have a honeymoon when they got married. They moved to Idaho, where Mike worked as an auto mechanic. She opened a day care.
Mike went back to school and earned a teaching degree and the family moved to Yakima. A trip to visit family on Whidbey Island sealed the deal on a move to Western Washington.
“We fell in love with it,” Jackie said.
After about 15 years, Mike was offered a job at Snohomish High School, where he still works. The family has lived in Everett for 12 years.
Jackie said that if she could offer advice, she would tell couples to put family first.
“We always tell people that our assets are our children and each other,” she said.
Communication and honesty are also high on their list.
Jackie describes Mike as an outstanding father. He’s strong and positive and Jackie loves him because he is there for her no matter what.
For their recent anniversary, he bought her flowers. She baked him a pie.
“I know I’m really, really fortunate,” Jackie said. “Some people don’t even find one true love and I found two. I can’t even say enough about him.”
For information on Love Story or Celebrations, call Christina Harper at 425-339-3491 or e-mail harper@heraldnet.com.
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