Terry and Charlotta Atwell will celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary on Dec. 23, 2007. They were married on Dec. 23, 1967 at Trinity Baptist Church in Chickasha by Rev. Bob Gray.

Three weeks after being married, Terry was deployed to Vietnam with the 3/22 25th Infantry Division of the United States Army. While serving in Vietnam for 13 months of active combat, he earned the Purple Heart.

After Terry returned from Vietnam, the couple moved to Fort Benning, Ga., where Terry finished his military commitment. With the military time behind them, Terry and Charlotta returned to Chickasha to establish their home.

Terry went to work as a civilian employee at Tinker Air Force Base, from which he retired 34 years later.

Charlotta became a mother and housewife until 1984 when she graduated from nursing school and became a Registered Nurse at Grady Memorial Hospital for the next 22 years.

Terry and Charlotta are blessed with two wonderful children, Jeff Atwell and his wife Melissa and Tamara Fisher and her husband Jack. They also have six grandchildren, Gabrielle and Michael Atwell and Skyla, Kaysi, Jade and Jacob Fisher.

All three families now live as neighbors on a small acreage in Ninnekah.

The couple plans to celebrate their anniversary with a family dinner with their children and grandchildren and an evening on the town in Oklahoma City.