Sitting together with her husband of 65 years, Eugene, on a loveseat in their Washington, D.C., home, Beverly Russell remembered how they first met after an Armstrong High School football game. She was a cheerleader, and he was a linebacker and defensive back.

“We started talking, and I guess we’ve been talking ever since,” she said.

For more than six decades, the Russells have lived in a house on East Capitol Street that had been her grandparents’ home. Down the street is the Episcopal Church of the Atonement, where they were married in 1956, and a few blocks from their home is St. Luke’s Catholic Church, where they became Catholic many decades ago and have been active members ever since. They will be among more than 250 local Catholic couples celebrating milestone anniversaries in 2021 who will be prayed for at the Archdiocese of Washington’s annual Jubilarian Mass on June 27 at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle.

Josephite Father Cornelius Kelechi Ejiogu, the pastor of St. Luke Catholic Church, praised the Russells for their example of love and faith.

“Sometimes we search so high for stars when they sit low shining over us. In Pa Eugene and Ma Beverly, we see stars whose lights shine so brightly for us during moments of darkness,” the priest said. “At a time when some young people are beginning to question the vocation of marriage, the Russells become a portrait for them to look at daily.”

The Russell’s marriage has been marked by a lifetime of blessings and some trying times. They have four daughters – Terita Willis; Tajuana Russell, who died in 2001; Tonita Russell-Thomas, who died in 2012; and Tamara Russell. Eugene and Beverly Russell also have 10 grandchildren and 16 great-grandchildren.

Eugene Russell, an 83-year-old native of Washington, worked for the U.S. Department of Agriculture as an office manager for the U.S. Forest Service for more than two decades, and over the years, he also worked as a clerk for the U.S. Postal Service. Then for about 23 years, he worked as a sexton in charge of maintenance at St. Luke’s Church, taking care of plumbing, electricity and other matters there. Most days, he walked to work at the church.

“That (St. Luke’s) was like a second home to me,” he said.

Beverly Russell, 81 and also a Washington native, taught art for many years at Chamberlain Vocational High School, where some of her students went on to become art teachers, graphic designers and own their own businesses. She also taught art to younger students for more than a decade at the now-closed St. Benedict the Moor School in Washington.

“I enjoyed the give-and-take of talent and creativity,” said Beverly Russell, reflecting on her career as an art teacher.

Her happiest memories over the years included watching her daughters graduate from high school and college.

“Each one of them had their own personalities. They were good students,” said Beverly Russell, remembering how she graduated from Federal City College with a degree in studio art on the same year when their oldest daughter graduated from junior high school.

Eugene Russell remembered how much fun they had taking their daughters to the beach on weekends, where their family members enjoyed swimming and crabbing.

The hardest things the Russells had to endure were the deaths of their daughters Tajuana, who died of pancreatic cancer; and Tonita, who had bone cancer. Beverly Russell said they got through those heartbreaking experiences “through prayers and family support and church support.”

“I was the prefect for the Sodality (at St. Luke’s) at that time, and I had a lot of support from my Sodality sisters,” she said.

A recent challenge they faced was being separated from family members and fellow church members during the pandemic. They stayed connected to their faith by watching livestream Masses and the Sunday TV Mass.

While their neighborhood has changed over the years – with stores and businesses leaving the area, and RFK Stadium blocking their view of the U.S. Capitol which they could formerly see from their front steps – a constant for the Russells has been their Catholic faith.

“It (my faith) has helped me in all corners,” Beverly Russell said. “It helped me through the loss of my parents. It helped me greatly with the girls’ (deaths)… It helped me be able to accept death and the loss of loved ones and friends.”

Praying the rosary and saying her Josephite prayers and her prayers to St. Jude continue to help her, she said.

Ironically, one thing that first drew them to St. Luke’s was the parish’s bingo games.

“St. Luke’s offered bingo. My girlfriends and I would go. The priest would say, ‘Why don’t you come to Mass sometime?’” Beverly Russell remembered, noting how she took up the priest’s invitation to come to Mass and help with the youth programs there, and she became Catholic around 1973. She has been a longtime member of the Sodality there and was a lector at Mass for about two decades, and also volunteered for many years with the CYO program, accompanying teens from the parish on field trips to places like amusement parks and roller skating rinks.

“It (the church) kept me busy, kept me active, thinking and doing on behalf of others,” Beverly Russell said.

Before becoming Catholic, Eugene Russell also would go down to St. Luke’s for bingo, and after being invited to cut grass there, became the church’s longtime sexton. He eventually followed his wife in becoming Catholic, and he joined the Holy Name Society at St. Luke’s Parish.

“We were very active,” he said. “Everything that needed to be done to help the priests, (to help) the church, we’d do.”

Describing what his faith means to him, Eugene Russell said, “I found Jesus in the Catholic Church… Every time I had illnesses, I prayed to him, (and) he came through for me.”

Last October,  he worried that he had been stricken with the coronavirus, but it turned out he had a blood clot on his lungs. He said his prayers to Jesus also helped him overcome depressed feelings after learning about people he knew who had died during the pandemic.

“He (Jesus) was there for me all the time,” said Eugene Russell. “(Now I) wake up and thank the Lord for another day, (thinking) this day will be better than yesterday.”

The pandemic prevented the couple from participating in one of their favorite retirement outings, driving to the casinos in Atlantic City. They explained that their typical routine involved praying the rosary in the car for safe travels on the way there and back. Eugene Russell joked that they also prayed they wouldn’t be broke when they returned home, so they would be able to bring back some money for St. Luke’s.

Asked about their tips for a long and happy marriage, Beverly Russell responded, “You can’t just walk out the door when you have a disagreement. You have to learn how to work things out together, to solve your problems.”

And she had one more piece of advice: “Stay in prayer.”

Eugene Russell said his advice was: “Love. We love each other. We never carry a grudge. Any argument or disagreement, we always settle it, most of the time at that moment.”

Sitting beside his wife on the loveseat in their home’s living room, he added, “We’re thankful we’re still here, to come down and see our great-grandkids running around the house.”