By the time lunch trays start sliding across the counter at the Sayre Senior Center, Marvin and Loreta Stewart are usually already seated — talking, laughing, and checking to see who made it in that day.
It’s a simple routine, but one they’ve come to treasure. After 68 years of marriage, decades of work, and a lifetime of watching their hometown evolve, the Stewarts have learned something that feels small but carries real weight: life is better when you share it.
It’s the same spirit behind the Sayre Senior Center’s upcoming Valentine’s Sweetheart Luncheon — a fundraiser built around food, friendship, and the idea that no one should have to eat alone.
Marvin and Loreta figured that out long before psychologist Julianne Holt-Lunstad ever put numbers to it. According to a study produced by Holt-Lunstad and her research colleagues, people with stronger social relationships have up to a 50% greater chance of survival compared with those who have weaker social ties. In other words, connection and community — like what happens every day at the Sayre Senior Center — aren’t just comforting, they’re health-supporting.
Marvin and Loreta’s story stretches back nearly a lifetime. As children, their families gathered regularly for domino games in the country near Willow. Life carried them through oilfield work, moves across state lines, long workdays, and hard-earned careers, but it eventually brought them right back home — to the same land and the same kind of people they’d always known.
Marvin spent years delivering bread across western Oklahoma, back when small towns bustled and grocery stores lined Main Street. Long days on the road eventually gave way to evenings and weekends back on the land, where he farmed and ranched — work that never stopped feeling like home. Years later, that same steady work ethic carried him into public service, where he served 24 years as a Beckham County Commissioner.
While Marvin was building his career on the road and in the fields, Loreta was carving out a path of her own. During her first week of college, overwhelmed and unsure she belonged, she called home ready to quit. Marvin listened, then gave her simple advice that would echo through the rest of their lives: “Finish the week.”
She did. A registrar gave her a chance to prove herself in class, and Loreta went on to earn her pharmacy degree in the 1960s. Looking back, that moment feels less like a school decision and more like a glimpse into the kind of partnership they were building — one rooted in patience, encouragement, and the quiet belief that hard things are worth staying for.
They’ve seen Sayre at its busiest — Saturday nights filled with cars, downtown stores glowing, and neighbors running into one another at the soda fountain after the movie. Today, like many small towns, the storefronts are fewer and the crowds are smaller. But for Marvin and Loreta, one place still feels like the Sayre they remember.
The Senior Center. They’ve been coming for nearly two years now, and what started as a simple lunch stop has become part of their routine and their social circle.
“It’s the people,” Loreta said. “And the food doesn’t hurt either.”
Inside the center, lunch feels less like dining out and more like gathering at a big family table. Conversations stretch across tables. Birthdays are remembered. Empty chairs are noticed.
“If somebody’s missing for a few days, we check on them,” Loreta said. “You don’t get that at a café.”
Marvin agrees. For him, it’s about staying connected.
“It’s just good people here,” he said. “Good people to meet and know.”
That daily connection matters more than many realize. As routines shrink and circles get smaller with age, places like the Senior Center help fight loneliness, keep minds active, and give people a reason to get out of the house.
And in a town that has already seen too many buildings go dark, the Stewarts say this is one place that needs to stay bright.
“This is a really special place,” Loreta said. “We can’t stand one more building closing.”
That’s why the upcoming Valentine’s Sweetheart Luncheon is more than just a meal. From 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Sunday, February 8, the Sayre Senior Citizen Center will be serving homemade stew, chili, cornbread, crackers, and desserts, along with a kids menu. Take-out will also be available, making it easy for folks to swing through after church and pick up a meal to go.
Every $10 plate helps support the center’s daily lunch program and outreach meals delivered to homebound seniors, extending the same care and connection beyond the walls of the building.
For Marvin and Loreta Stewart — married 68 years and still showing up side by side — that kind of commitment feels familiar. You show up. You stay. You take care of each other.
We can’t promise a bowl of stew will lead to a 68-year marriage — but spending time with people who care about each other probably doesn’t hurt.
And sometimes, love looks like sharing a meal.
