Anniversary: Al and Bev Bertaina

Al and Bev celebrated their 50th anniversary with 70 family members and friends at a dinner hosted by their daughter, Lara Bertaina.

Al, from Northern California, met Bev, from Colorado, as she disembarked the SS Victoria in Bukoba (on Lake Victoria) Tanzania on Jan. 9, 1965. Al was a Peace Corps engineer working on roads while Bev taught classes of 50 at a middle school. Al rode his bike to Bev's school and brought her a puppy on their first date. They married 11 months later on November 27, 1965 and their Marriage Certificate is in Swahili.

They returned to San Jose State where Al finished his degree and then they moved to San Francisco where Al worked as an engineer for Del Monte Corp and Bev took care of their daughter Lara and their son Adam who had severe disabilities. Bev and Adam helped occupy the federal building in San Francisco in 1977 to support civil rights for those with disabilities. Al and Bev moved to the country outside Sebastopol in 1980 and built a wheel-chair accessible geodesic dome. Al worked at a number of local companies as an Industrial Engineer while Bev advocated for the integration of disabled children into regular schools, served on the Board of Disability Rights Education & Defense Fund and worked as a Paralegal for O'Brien, Watters & Davis for nine years. Their son Adam died in his sleep at age 19. In 2000, they moved to downtown Sebastopol and retired.

Al serves on the Human Rights Committee for Sonoma Developmental Center and rides his motorcycle with the BMW club and the Old Coots on Scoots. Bev gardens, creates mosaics and sings with Women's Voices Chorus. They have traveled to England, Slovenia and Italy to meet relatives, St. Lucia, Guatemala (where they worked building a classroom) and returned to Tanzania 3 times, twice with their daughter, to assist at Bev's old school in Bukoba.

Al and Bev were asked what made for a long, happy marriage and they said 'love, perseverance, supportive families and good sex.'