Nathan and Lavern Medell White were married sixty years ago on March 1, 1952. Nathan was raised in the Jackson area while Lavern grew up around Bennington, Oklahoma. Nathan is the son of the late C.E. and Sarah White, and Lavern is the daughter of the late Everett and Elvia Medell. Both Nathan and Lavern are proud graduates of Bennington High School where Nathan was the 1951 Senior Class President, and Lavern was the FFA Sweetheart.

After they married, Nathan went to work in the oilfields of West Texas and southeastern New Mexico. When their daughters were old enough to enter school, Nathan went to work for Southwestern Public Service Company in Hobbs, New Mexico, and worked for this company until he retired; after 34 years with SPC Nathan very proudly stated in all those years he only missed two days of work. When their daughters were in school, Lavern decided to go to beauty school and worked as a hairdresser until she retired. In 1995, following their retirement, they moved back to Oklahoma to make their home in Durant. In January 2005, Lavern, along with her high school team members, was inducted into the Southeastern Oklahoma University basketball hall of fame as being pioneers of women’s high school basketball in Oklahoma. Their children, Bill and Laquita Boyd and James and Belinda Pustka, along with their grandchildren, Cody Boyd and Colin and Emily Boyd, will be honoring Nathan and Lavern with an Open House on February 25 at the Fellowship Hall of the Northwest Church of Christ from 2:00 until 4:00. All family and community members are warmly invited to attend.