Matters of the Heart
Jim and Paula Pietila: A marriage that began in Hell is still going strong!
by Mary Jo David (as shared by the Pietilas)
Although they went to school in Pinckney, it took a high school dance in Stockbridge to bring Jim Pietila and Paula Wright together. Paula’s cousin, Donna Biehn, invited Paula to attend the dance. Donna’s date, Phil Tanner, asked Jim if he wanted to attend. As fate would have it, both couples later married and have remained close to this day.
In Pinckney, Jim was a senior and Paula was a sophomore. Having moved from Sandusky, Ohio, Paula had not yet met Jim until the Stockbridge dance. From then on, the couple began dating and, on September 12, 1970, they married at the United Methodist Church in Williamston. Paula was just 18, and Jim was 20.
They spent their early married life in Hell—literally—Hell, Michigan, where they lived in a log cabin until 1973. They moved to Bunker Hill when their oldest was still a baby. Paula recalls one of her first encounters with the mailman at their new home:
“I guess I must have looked pretty young, because he asked me to go get my mom, and I had to tell him, ‘I am the mom!”
The Pietilas raised three daughters—Vicky, Mary, and Jamie—and are the proud grandparents of eight grandchildren and one great granddaughter.
Jim spent 35 years working in the commercial printing industry and later learned the plumbing trade. Paula retired from the Chelsea Wellness Center and helped open and run the Stockbridge Wellness Center, which she considers the best job of her life.
While raising their family, the Pietilas camped all around the state of Michigan, graduating from a tent to a pop-up and then to a 5th wheel RV. Eventually the couple ventured farther afield—to Florida and then to the Caribbean, twice, via cruise ships.
Although they enjoy traveling, they find plenty to do closer to home. The couple especially likes taking their pontoon boat over to Bruin Lake, where they enjoy traversing the chain of lakes. Jim spent part of his childhood growing up on Patterson Lake, so he has a natural affinity to the area.
Throughout their many years together, the Pietilas have faced plenty of obstacles, like the 1970s recession and even Michigan’s worst blizzard. But by far, their most difficult time was losing their daughter Vicky in 2016 after she valiantly fought a seven-year battle against inflammatory breast cancer.
“That was the worst thing we’ve been through, and it was enough,” Paula recalled. Jim added, “By comparison, everything else has been just normal ups and downs.”
Looking back, Paula can recall a few differences between her and Jim, the biggest being that she was much more intent on starting a family earlier than Jim was. But over time, Jim thinks the two of them have become more and more alike.
That’s a good thing, considering that the Pietila’s advice for other couples is, “Don’t try to fix or change each other.”
Photos provided by the Pietilas.
Early days with the Pietila family: Paula and Jim with their daughters (l-r): Jamie, Vicky, and Mary.
The Pietilas have been married 53 years. They wed in September 1970, when Jim was just 20 and Paula was 18.
