Over 50 years ago, Ron and Bonnie Murdock met on a Northwest (then Orient) Airlines DC-4 flight. After a seven-week courtship, they decided to marry June 21, 1962 in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho.

Bonnie Murdock’s airline career was ended; stewardesses were required to be unmarried as well as gorgeous. Ron Murdock continued to fly for another 30 plus years. Airline pilot staffing requirements or personal desires resulted in many moves: forced back to the airline’s main base in Minneapolis, a quick rebound to rental homes near the old SeaTac airport, then their first owned home near Dash Point, followed by several years of adventurous horse-training on acreage near Spokane, back to Bellevue for schooling, and finally they chose toreside and retire for the past 29 years on Whidbey Island’s Lone Lake.

Their half century of marriage has been graced by three daughters with three sons-in-law, two grandsons and a granddaughter. Twenty years ago, Bonnie Murdock’s mother, Evelyn Brumback, moved to Langley to join the family.

In 1962, the Murdocks honeymooned at Honolulu’s Reef Hotel. They are returning to celebrate their 50th and, after making reservations, faxed the original letter from 1962 offering them a quoted rate of $10 a night. The hotel management responded enthusiastically and promised special attention.

As an added treat, one of the flight attendants working the flight to Honolulu will be their daughter Kristy.