After weeks of battling for their lives, their suffering magnified by the loss of dear friends and family members, Jackie and Stacy Stockton, 90 and 92, of Ship Bottom have persevered against COVID-19 and, miraculously, live to celebrate their 70th anniversary.

Jackie and Stacy met in the summer of 1948 at the annual Browns Mills Water Carnival. “I was with my friends from Pemberton having fun on the lake when I noticed Jackie,” Stacy recalled. “She’s hard not to notice. My friend Frank dared me to go dance with her, so I did.”

Jackie said, “He reminded me of James Dean; he was that cute! I was acting silly, as usual, doing the Charleston.” She smiled and said, “It was love at first sight.”

Stacy affirmed, “Yes. Yes, it was. A year later, we were building a house together, and her father insisted we get engaged. So instead of spending money on bricks, we had to get an engagement ring,” he said. His wife laughed.

Jackie reminisced, “We were married on April 15, 1950 … a cold and snowy day, in a little, wooden Lutheran church in Mount Holly.” The pair spent nearly three-quarters of a century together, raising “four beautiful, wonderful children, seven grandchildren and two great-grandchildren, so far,” Jackie proudly detailed.

Stacy brought tears to Jackie’s eyes when he imparted his secret to a lasting relationship: “Patience, understanding and saying ‘I love you’ as much as you can.” Jackie then added, “And lots of hugs and kisses, whether he wants them or not!”

The Stocktons asserted that “divorce” was never part of their vocabulary. “Once he got me, he wasn’t going to get rid of me,” said Jackie, who noted that she had to reassure her husband when she went back to college at 41 she was not going anywhere. “I suffered through it,” Stacy recalled. “It wasn’t easy,” said Jackie.

Like any couple, they had their differences. “I still have the pot I threw at him, with a dent in it,” said Jackie. “It didn’t hit him; it hit the floor, thank God.” Although there was plenty of screaming, Jackie said it never meant the end for them. “Stacy was and always will be my hero,” she said. Her key to endurance? “Laugh. You’ve got to laugh!”

In that spirit, the Stocktons have always been known for festivity, celebrating their love and merriment with the community. The

couple were looking forward to a grand party, filled with friends and relatives. One of their daughters had hoped to surprise them with a trip to Manhattan, where they would have been VIP guests on “Good Morning America.” Unbeknownst to them, local Assemblywoman DiAnne Gove would have presented the Stocktons with a proclamation by the state of New Jersey, recognizing 70 years of marriage, as well as Stacy’s service to the community. He had been on the board of education and council in Pemberton, where he was a builder for 40 years. He also served on the land use board in Ship Bottom for many years. The proclamation also acknowledges the Stocktons’ connection to Richard Stockton, who signed the Declaration of Independence for New Jersey.

“Then came coronavirus, and I barely remember the month of March,” lamented Jackie, who fell ill with COVID-19 the morning following her 90th birthday celebration at Zion Lutheran Church in Barnegat Light. The celebration occurred just days before the governor issued a state of emergency, closing all nonessential businesses and banning travel and gathering. COVID-19 subsequently affected many in Jackie’s beloved church community. Two women who had attended the celebration suffered fatal complications and the husband of another attendee who fell ill died – which Jackie only found out about later.

After developing a dangerously high fever and falling down the stairs, Jackie was admitted to Southern Ocean Medical Center, where she was kept in isolation. It took three days for the test results to come back, “and none of us could believe I tested positive,” she said. Her doctor prescribed her the controversial drug hydroxychloroquine in conjunction with an antibiotic, and she began to recover in several days. By the time she was released to go home, her husband had become severely ill and was presumed positive. He was prescribed the same medication with similar results.

“In the meantime, my youngest daughter was also very sick,” said Jackie. “My oldest daughter, her husband and my grandson had to take care of us because, understandably, nurses were not going to come into a home where people had the virus.” Six Stockton family members have since tested positive for COVID-19.

Their youngest daughter, Ship Bottom resident Alice Stockton-Rossini, an NBC reporter who had been covering an early virus outbreak in a NYC suburb just prior to hosting her mother’s birthday party at their church, soon after came forward with her story in The SandPaper to alert her community about how dangerously virulent COVID-19 proved to be. She had hoped to bring awareness about the dire need for both testing centers and the practice of social distancing. As can be expected, she was met with mixed reactions, spanning from neighborly support to critical hostility.

The Stocktons proudly support their daughter’s decision to come forward. “She wanted to let people know how fast this virus can spread, and raise awareness. She should not blame herself, and neither should anyone else,” said Jackie, who explained the party occurred before any bans were placed on travel and gathering. “I was at the Philadelphia Flower Show a week before the party,” Jackie explained. “Maybe I brought it to the party. We don’t know enough about this virus to blame anyone.”

The Stocktons were unaware for a while of the circulating speculation that the virus had been brought to LBI by their youngest daughter who might have exposed others at the church celebration on March 8. Their daughters did not want to upset them with tragic news while they recovered. When they finally learned about the deaths of several church members, including their neighbor Sandy Medford, they were stunned. “Sandy was our best friend and neighbor for 50 years,” said Jackie. “She was not well this year, and all we did was worry about each other. But this year, we were determined to drag ourselves up to the beach and sit in the ocean even if we couldn’t get up. We were going … and now … it’s just too much.”

In an entirely separate turn of events, Stockton-Rossini’s brother-in-law died after battling COVID-19 on a ventilator in the Bronx. “He was only 56 years old,” Jackie shared gloomily. “This virus doesn’t discriminate and it has devastated our family.”

Both of their daughters were tested again, confirming they did, in fact, recover from COVID-19, and contain antibodies that can potentially help current patients. They have both signed up to donate plasma. “They are giving back and trying to heal,” said Jackie. “It’s what we all need to do right now.” The Stocktons expressed deep gratitude for the support of their doctors, nurses, neighbors who called and sent them food and well wishes during their recovery and, most importantly, their pastor and church community.

“I will never understand the vitriol and backlash based in fear and lack of information,” said Jackie, “but in spite of that, this experience has taught us how good people truly are, and the importance of our community working together to battle this pandemic.”

After 70 years, the couple may have just overcome their most colossal feat yet, and they are counting their blessings, crediting their “wonderful family, neighbors and church community” for their health. Jackie said, smiling, “We don’t need anything else in order to celebrate our 70 years together.”

monique@thesandpaper.net