MANSFIELD — Charles didn’t think he had a shot with Bonnie when they first met, but time has proven him wrong.
The Ginters will celebrate their 70th wedding anniversary on April 12. The couple lived most of their lives in Shelby but currently reside in Bellville.
“It has gone very quickly,” Charles said.
Bonnie agreed.
“The older you are, the faster it goes,” she added.
Charles and Bonnie first met when she was still in high school.
“I kind of liked her, kind of leaned toward her, but at the time she was going with a popular guy in school and I thought my chances weren’t too great,” Charles recalled.
After he returned from military service in Germany, Charles became close friends with Bonnie’s brother Bob. The two young men shared an interest in motorcycles. Charles described his younger self as a “rough guy.” He owned a Harley and wore a gold earring.
Bonnie was quite the opposite.
“She was a church girl, been going all of her life,” Charles recalled. “I wanted nothing to do with church. That wasn’t my way of life.”
Bob set them up on a double date anyway. They were married six months later. Charles was 23; Bonnie was 19.
“I took a chance,” Bonnie said. “I just fell in love with him. I’ve never had any regrets. I’d still pick him.”
After five years of resisting, Charles became a Christian at the age of 28.
“She got me interested in church and I began to attend the Nazarene church in Shelby,” Charles said. “One day they were having special services and I felt God calling me and dealing with me, so I went forward to give my heart to Christ and the rest is history.”
Since then, the Ginters’ shared faith has been the bedrock of their marriage and family.
“Our decisions, anything we do, we want God’s approval first and we’ve just tried to be considerate of each other,” Bonnie said.
Their daughter, Kim Rollison, said her parents’ commitment to their faith and to each other is perhaps their greatest strength.
“They were always very steady,” Kim said. “I don’t ever remember them wavering in their commitment to anything. That was grounding for me.”
The Ginters stayed active in their church after that. Charles served as church treasurer, a Sunday school teacher and eventually Sunday school superintendent. They taught teen lessons and sang, even launching their own family singing group for a few years.
Charles went on to earn a ministerial degree from Mount Vernon Nazarene University. He took evening classes while working as a tool and die maker.
At 51, he took an interim pastor job at a Nazarene church in Crestline. He pastored four churches after that. Charles spent about 13 or 14 years in full-time ministry, then continued to fill in for pastors on vacation for a few more years.
The Ginters have two children, three grandchildren and four great grandchildren. Their son, Tim Ginter, is an ordained minister who served in the Ohio House of Representatives. Rollison and her husband retired from full-time ministry last year.
Their parenting advice is to teach children the importance of scripture reading and prayer daily.
“Go to church. Be faithful. Say what you think and back it up,” Charles said.
Over the years, the Ginters have enjoyed the simple things in life, like impromptu drives to Galion for footlong subs at Porky’s Restaurant. They’ve strolled through downtown Bellville and gone cycling on the B&O bike trail.
Charles enjoys traveling to Amish country to watch the horse auctions. Sometimes he browses the shops and brings home a small gift for Bonnie, like a candle or a teddy bear for her growing collection. They’ve visited the Smoky Mountains, Arizona and Niagara Falls.
Life hasn’t always been easy for the Ginters. Charles retired early from Quanex in Shelby in part due to health issues. Their first daughter-in-law died of pancreatic cancer before her 30th birthday.
Both admit they can be stubborn at times, but the Ginters say their faith and the vows they made seven decades ago have sustained them.
“There have been some bumps in the road, but we said, ‘With the Lord’s help we’re going to tough it out,’” Bonnie said.
Bonnie said they’ve both had to learn an important skill — the art of a true apology.
“We’ve blown it, both of us, time after time,” she said. “We try to be careful and apologize. We’re not perfect, but we’ve tried to be honest with each other like that.”
“A man’s got to learn two important words,” Charles added. “Yes, dear.”
Charles said his favorite thing about Bonnie is her faithfulness day in and day out.
“She’s been a great helpmate. She’s always there. I trust her,” he said. “She’s been a good gal in the house. She keeps the house nice. She cooks and just does everything a good wife should do.”
Bonnie’s favorite thing about Charles is his tenderness. As her arthritis has set in over the last year, he’s had to do a lot more around the house and help her with her walker. He never complains.
“I used to see older people and think, ‘Oh, those poor old people. Now I’m not one of those poor old people,” she said. “He just does it and I can’t repay him enough for that.”
The Ginters say their wedding advice is to trust in God and remember not to take each other for granted.
“Life can be short,” Bonnie said. “You don’t want to sound gloomy, but we don’t have any assurance of tomorrow.”
