Even as Belle Bussey Snider's life starts to flicker in the final stages of Alzheimer's disease, her husband of 70 years is by her side.

MIKE STONE/Special Contributor

Gospel pianist Marion Snider met Belle Bussey at a Dallas publishing company in 1936. He was immediately smitten, and they married in 1938. In recent years, Belle has been suffering from Alzheimer's disease, making their 70th anniversary bittersweet.

Marion Snider says he's been in love with Belle since they met in May 1936. He was a student at Texas Technological College, now Texas Tech University, in Lubbock, when he got a telegram from the Stamps Quartet in Dallas. Marion, a gospel pianist playing for the Lubbock Quartet, had made a name for himself on the music circuit. But being called to Dallas to play at the Texas Centennial "was a big deal," he says.

In Dallas, the McKinney native toured another Stamps business, Stamps-Baxter Music Co., which published gospel music books. A few moments there would change Marion's life.

"There was a beautiful young lady sitting behind a table folding covers by hand," says Marion, now 94. "We walked over, and owner Bill Stamps said, 'This is Belle Bussey. She's the assistant to Mrs. V.O. Stamps.' "

Belle was working for her sister, Mrs. V.O. Stamps, while attending North Texas Agricultural College, now the University of Texas at Arlington.

"I didn't say, 'I'm happy to meet you. It's good to see you,' " he says. "I just looked at her and said, 'I'm going to marry you one of these days.' She said, 'That's what you think.' "

Marion obviously was onto something. But he didn't rush into anything because he figured it wasn't a smart idea to date the sister of the boss's wife right off the bat. But by December 1937, he couldn't wait any longer to ask Belle for a date.

"She was beautiful, and I could tell she was good," he says. "We gospel musicians know how to read people."

Their first date was to a show at Fair Park, and they had steady dates for the next six months. Marion still finds it amusing that Belle couldn't sing.

"I'd drive along and sing," he says. "She couldn't sing any song all the way through. She just wasn't musical at all. She couldn't even sing 'Amazing Grace.' But she was a good wife."

The couple found plenty of common ground, including childhoods spent in the country. They married June 1, 1938. By then, Marion's work with the Stamps Quartet had gained national fame with radio broadcasts from KRLD in Dallas. Belle worked for American Optical Co. during the early years of their marriage after she graduated from college.

"She didn't try to run my business, and I didn't try to run hers," he says.

His music career took them to fabulous places with interesting people. Marion remembers one particularly interesting night in Hollywood in 1941.

Movie star and Dallas native "Linda Darnell and her mother took me and Belle to dinner," he says.

"When it came time to conga, Desi Arnaz came over and got my wife to do it with him."

But the Sniders kept firm roots in Dallas. Their children, Charles and Marianne, were born in 1943 and 1945, respectively. Belle and Marion raised them in the Kessler Park area of Oak Cliff and spent many weekends on a ranch they bought in Glen Rose.

Married life suited the couple, and they watched with pride as their children's careers flourished and as a granddaughter and two great-grandchildren were added to the family.

But for more than a decade, Marion has watched the love of his life slowly slip away.

At 91, Belle's memories have left her, but they live on with Marion. He says he wouldn't trade their time together.

"We're in love," he says. "We've had a wonderful life. We've been down some valleys and up on top of some hills.

"We've had a beautiful life."

If you have a True Romance story, e-mail Kathleen Green at DMNgreen@sbcglobal.net.