Donald Russell Strandlund graduated from Moline (Illinois) High School in 1948 and entered four years of service in the United State Navy in Memphis, Tennessee. A friend from Cullman, Alabama invited him to meet “a beautiful girl” during his time in Memphis, so he came to Cullman and courted Mary Magdelene Wood, from Logan, Alabama, who graduated from Cullman High School in 1949.
After his Navy discharge, Don and Mary returned to Moline, Illinois, where he attended Augustana College and later Augustana Theological Seminary. He was ordained a Lutheran Minister 1961 and served at churches in Minnesota, Florida and Alabama over the next 40-plus years. They retired to Cullman many years ago to be closer to family and are now residents at Hanceville Nursing and Rehab Center. They have two children, Bill and Tina Strandlund, five grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.
On that early morning on Oct. 21, 1950, they borrowed a friend’s car, and drove to Iuka, Mississippi to get married. Now, on Oct. 21, 2025, they celebrated their diamond wedding anniversary of 75 years together.
What an accomplishment!
