Tinley Park Couple to Celebrate 60 Years of Marriage

With all the talk these days of marriage being outdated, there is one Tinley Park couple who knows what it takes to make a marriage last. Robert and Janet Kush, of the Kimberly Heights subdivision in Tinley Park, will be celebrating their 60th wedding anniversary on June 25. They have been members of Tinley Park United Methodist Church for forty-seven years, and they are actively involved in both the Tinley Park Seniors Group as well as the Young Seniors Group of Orland Park. Janet has also been active in the Tinley Park Garden Club for ten years where she has served at the vice-president and enjoys the work that she does with the club to help beautify the local Crisis Center and Post Office.

They met at a dance on December 13, 1953 at “The Canteen” in Evergreen Park when Robert was 20 and Janet was 18. “I went there with a girlfriend. I didn’t know that she was meeting up with a young man at the dance. Had I known that, I wouldn’t have gone with her,” said Janet. “The young man she was meeting at the dance brought a friend as well, that was Bob.” Robert was drafted into the Army four months later, while still dating Janet. Eight months later, in December of 1954, they were engaged to marry and Janet planned their wedding herself while Robert was stationed in Germany. Robert was discharged four months later and they married on June 25, 1955. They moved into the Roseland neighborhood for a short while before buying their first home in Worth. Their first child, Richard was born while they lived there. Because of the Tri-State construction, they lost their home and moved to Oak Lawn where their second child, Cathy was born. They lived there for four years, but the expansion of their family meant a larger home and another move, this time to Harvey where their third child, Karen was born. They lived there for eight years prior to moving to Tinley Park.

When asked what contributes to their successful marriage, the couple points to being kind, considerate and helpful to each other in addition to good communication. Janet says, “We are opposites and opposites attract. We tolerate each others’differences and don’t fight a lot.” That speaks volumes to what it takes for a successful marriage to thrive; realizing that each person in a relationship is an individual and not trying to force them to be someone whom they are not. Robert agrees, “I think that because we are opposites we balance each other out.”

For years, social scientists have been trying to answer the question what makes for a long marriage. We don’t know why, after the bliss of the wedding day has faded, one couple chooses to end their marriage after a few years, while another can stay together for six decades. Robert and Janet’s’ marriage gives us a glimpse of what marriage is about: each person vesting themselves into it for the long haul in totality. There is a misnomer that a marriage is an equally divided venture when, in fact, it’s about each person bringing 100 percent of themselves to the union. What is an equally-divided, 50/50 venture? Divorce. Marriage is about giving freely of yourself and contributing fully to it, not just for today, but for the long term interest of your relationship. Could it be as simple as being kind, considerate and helpful to each other?

“What I envision a marriage should be is what they have,” says grandson Daniel Kush of Midlothian who will be celebrating four years of marriage in June. “When I think of marriage they are the first people to come to mind.” Dave Kush of Frankfort, Janet and Robert’s oldest grandson who will be celebrating thirteen years of marriage in August says, “I think the most important thing that I’ve learned from their marriage is that marriages can last, and that it’s the result of thinking of the other person before yourself. They are a constant example of what a loving couple acts like and that marriage is not a dying institution.” Janet and Robert’s granddaughter, Michelle Bassett, of Lockport, who just celebrated three years of marriage in April, says, “The marriage vows that we all proclaim, they are embodied in the marriage of my grandparents. They live those vows every day. Three words that resonate with me and epitomize their marriage are commitment, resolve and fun. They are always having fun together. Their marriage is a legacy.”

A great legacy at that. Janet and Robert Kush will be celebrating not only 60 years of marriage, but the positive and affirming impact that their relationship has had on their three children, ten grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. They are a living example of what marriage can be when you communicate and are kind, considerate and helpful to your spouse. That marriage takes commitment, but it is not outdated.