Grand Island couple celebrates 60 years

Roberta and Harry Lorence of Grand Island celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary recently with their family.

Harry and the former Roberta Cronin were married April 28, 1955, in Buffalo.

This year, the couple is celebrating their golden anniversary of living on the Island as well. They moved to Grand Island in 1965 and have lived here for 50 years. Harry retired from the Beaver Island Golf Course, where he held the position of golf course superintendent for 25 years. He and his wife lived inside the park for 21 years with their five sons and one daughter: Kurt, Kris, Kent, Kyle, Kristin and Jonathan. They have 12 grandchildren, who all live nearby as well.

The Island couple is blessed to have their children all living nearby, three of them on Grand Island, two on their street.

The family that plays together, stays together. The two were longtime coaches of Island sports. Harry coached in the Grand Island Little League that all his boys played in, and Roberta was a player/coach on women's softball teams on Grand Island, covering second base on the softball diamond. She played for more than 30 years and enjoyed her last game at the age of 69, on the Kaegebein ball diamond, where she played every inning of the game at second base, had a base hit and scored a run in a victory.

Harry and Roberta played and coached sports together on Grand Island and benefitted from having their children alongside them on the ball diamond. They even played on the same team, on a roster that at one time featured an entire infield of Lorences.