by Judy Williams

Dwight and Sue Crow’s story begins in Inkster when Sue was Sue Weber. She and Susie Rautiola were great friends and lived across the street from each other. Susie even stayed with Sue and her family for a month following a fire in her family’s home. In seventh grade, Susie’s family moved from Inkster to Gregory. Their friendship continued across the start of a new chapter as the girls stayed in contact with each other.

While on vacation with a friend’s family at Oxbow Lake, Sue met Dwight Crow and one of his friends. Dwight and his friend were working as lifeguards and cleaned the rental boats. Sue was 14 and Dwight was 15 at the time. 

“At first, I was more attracted to Dwight’s friend,” Sue said. But Dwight’s Southern charm and good manners soon won her over.

“Dwight always answered the ladies with ‘ma’am’ and the men with ‘sir,’” she said. Dwight, originally from Alabama, had moved to Michigan when he was 11. Sue eventually gave Dwight her phone number. As soon as the vacation was over, she started getting his calls.

Dwight was 15 and didn’t have a driver’s license, so their early dating consisted of Dwight talking his parents into driving to Inkster to pick up Sue so she could watch him play football or basketball, depending upon the season. Dwight’s family lived in Union Lake, so this was about a 40-minute drive, one way.

After Dwight received his driver’s license, their dates expanded to include driving to Gregory to meet up with former neighbor, Susie Rautiola, and her boyfriend, Ken Smith. The two couples spent their free time together going to movies and just hanging out.

On Feb. 3, 1973, Sue and Dwight were married at the Garden City Presbyterian Church. Of course, Susie and Ken were part of the wedding party. Dwight gave his trusted friend, Ken, his car keys so that no one would mess with his car. BIG mistake. Ken gave the car keys to Dwight’s dad, a big prankster. Dwight’s dad took the groom’s suitcase out of the car so he wouldn’t have any clothes except for the tux he had on. Ken, not thinking about future paybacks, put limburger cheese under the car seat.

Both Dwight and Sue agree the most special part of their marriage has been raising their family, daughter Tara Crow (Kirk Lubahn) and son Dwight. Through the years, their family has grown to include grandchildren Jonathan, Alex, Jenna and Laura. The proud grandparents enjoy attending all the grandkids’ activities.

When questioned about what keeps their marriage solid, they had a simple answer. “Shared activities and interests,” they said.

Throughout their married life, Sue and Dwight have enjoyed snowmobiling, travel and building seven homes together. Five of the homes they built themselves with husband/wife teamwork, and two they contracted.

Sue explained, “We just enjoy being together and anything we can do together.”

“Dwight is ambitious, hardworking, thoughtful and kind,” voiced the adoring Sue. “After all these years, he’s still romantic.”

“Sue is a people person and I admire that about her,” Dwight said.

When asked if there was anything they were still trying to teach their spouse, they both had something to add. It was no surprise that both their pet peeves corresponded.

“I consider Dwight three-fourths of the way trained in trying to get him to pick up after himself,” declared Sue.

Dwight added, “I’m trying to get Sue not to worry so much about cleaning. She’s constantly picking up and cleaning.”

Sue’s advice to others for a long and happy marriage is to, “Never go to bed mad.” Dwight quickly added, “Take time to work out your issues and then compromise.”

The couple plan to celebrate their Valentine’s Day before the 14th to avoid the crowds. Their plan is to do a combination wedding anniversary and Valentine’s Day weekend getaway.