Few marriages can boast five decades of experience, and the Norfields are some of the few. Even more impressive, they have a lifetime of friendship, beginning for Marilyn at the tender age of 3 when she met Derek at Sunday school. They grew up in the same town in England, attending the same church and going to the same youth group. Eventually, that friendship grew into something greater.
Derek thought Marilyn was gorgeous and knew they got along well. He asked her out in a park at night during a youth event. Years later, the pair were married and began their life together. Their marriage has been full of travel — both loved to visit new places, and Derek’s job often took him away from home. It was his job that brought the pair to the United States and eventually home to Lynchburg, where they have now lived for over 40 years.
“Derek was offered a job over here,” Marilyn said. “The children weren’t in school yet, so we decided that we might as well come and see how it was. So we came for a year, and that year has stretched.”
Now, the Norfields own Visiting Angels, where they’ve served the community for years. As with everything they do, it’s a team effort.
“We’ve just always supported each other. When he was traveling, I was raising the kids,” Marilyn said. “Five years ago, he was diagnosed with colon cancer, so now he’s the one that stays home, and I’m the one that goes out to work.”
The key, Derek said, is that they both offer 100% to each other, even when things aren’t going the way you’d like.
“If you have a problem, you don’t cut your partner off,” Derek said. “You take special care of them.”
The Norfields have two children, seven grandchildren, and recently welcomed their first great-grandson into the world. They are no longer able to travel like they used to, but they enjoy plenty of time together watching Formula One, football, and cooking shows. Being with each other is enough.
“[We] enjoy doing a lot of the same things together,” Derek said. “We’re each other’s best friends.”
The years they have spent together have given them a lot of wisdom on what exactly, makes a marriage work.
“Don’t give up too easily when times get hard,” Marilyn said. “Divorce is not the option. You work your problems out if you have difficulties.”
Communication is the other key, Marilyn said, as well as a mutual faith — something that has been very important to them. Recent years have brought quite a few trials, as Derek’s cancer sent him to the hospital many times. Despite those circumstances, the Norfields have maintained a positive, hopeful attitude. After all, Marilyn said, they know there is a good outcome coming. Hosting negative thoughts can only start a downward spiral.
“Everything that we face, we’ve had the Lord with us,” Marilyn said. “Our faith has carried us through a lot of things.”
The Norfields’ life of friendship and mutual support is an inspiration to couples across Lynchburg. Here’s to decades more.
