Evelyn Richard Evelyn and Ray Richard on their wedding day in 1979 (left) and on a cruise in 2017 (right). When Evelyn Richard met her husband, Ray, in the 1970s, they lived hundreds of miles apart. “He was actually in Walton [in Boone County, Ky.] visiting a friend that he had made while he was in the Navy,” she said. “I saw Ray in the congregation at the church and asked who he was. And then we were introduced.” They went on a date. There was a spark. So they kept in touch. “We didn’t have texting. And we would talk to each other on the phone occasionally, but it was long-distance. That was expensive. So we would write letters.”