Chesapeake couple celebrate 50th at Busch Gardens

WILLIAMSBURG

Earl and Willa Capps celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary Saturday with a stroll through Europe.

England first. Then Scotland, Ireland, France and Germany. There's no place the Chesapeake couple would rather be than together at Busch Gardens, their hangout of choice for 30 years.

"He's my favorite person in the world," said Willa, her yellow-gloved hand clasped in his on a chilly, cloudy opening day at the theme park modeled after the nations of Europe. "There's nobody I'd rather be with."

They have visited Busch Gardens hundreds of times, and they still go almost every Friday during the season.

The Capps are original members of the Soaring Eagles, a friendship club for season-pass-holders 55 years and older.

Jeff Bell, who organizes Eagles for Busch Gardens, presented the Capps with club T-shirts and a handcrafted floral ceramic from one of the park's shops.

Continual hugs from all their buddies in the club added to the festive day, one that was far more social than the Capps' wedding day: March 26, 1961, in Wytheville.

"We got married in my parents' living room," said Willa, whose father was a minister.

Along with her spectacles, she wore a knee-length white dress that cost $9.99 and carried seven white rosebuds in her gloved hands.

"It was a Sunday afternoon, a lot warmer than this," she said. "My daddy married us, but when he got to the part when it was time to kiss the bride, he couldn't say it."

Willa, 68, was an only child, 18 years old at the time. Earl, five years older, impressed her with the two-toned Chevy that he'd drive across the mountains every weekend from his home in Martinsville to visit her.

"When that burned up, I took the bus," he said.

Earl retired after 25 years at Norfolk Naval Shipyard, while Willa had a variety of jobs, the last being an office manager at a Hallmark store in Portsmouth.

They had two sons - Chris, who died unexpectedly at age 35, and Timothy, now 46 - and 13 grandchildren, with their first great-grandchild on the way.

None of the kids enjoys Busch Gardens quite as much as Earl and Willa.

"He rides; I'm the designated waver," said Willa, straining to catch a glimpse overhead of Earl's orange shirt from his front-row seat on the Griffon, one of the park's roller coasters.

"I ride 'em all," said Earl, whose favorite is Alpengeist, a high-speed coaster with six massive inversions.

If the ride stays on the ground, Willa joins him. Saturday, they shared Europe in the Air and Curse of DarKastle, where a minor mechanical breakdown didn't dampen their good time.

When they needed an extra giggle over a German lunch, they donned their goofy glasses. Earl's shades sported tall guitars; Willa's were decorated with piano keyboards.

Then there are the crazy hats.

"Big, oversized ones," said Soaring Eagle buddy Jim Salyer. "They show up every year now as the picture on their Christmas card."

Willa, an avid scrapbooker, presented Earl with a homemade card on Saturday morning. On the front was a black and white photo taken of him before they married with her collie, Duchess.

"He was the only boyfriend I ever dated that she liked," Willa said.

Inside it read: "I love you," and was signed, "Willa, your woman."

Earl sent roses and mums on Friday and gave her a 14-carat gold necklace with a heart on the end.

Attached to the fridge in their Western Branch home is a single sheet of notebook paper that reads, "I love you. All the time. The Man."

"I knew the first time I saw her she was a girl I wanted to meet," he said.

Sometimes they'll park their camper at Busch Gardens and stay the night. Other days, they'll leave after seeing a jukebox show around dinnertime.

Unless he's riding a coaster, they rarely stray from each other, holding hands always.

"It doesn't seem like any time at all," said Willa, who shared a kiss with Earl as they entered Germany.

"It's like we just got married a couple of days ago."

Vicki L. Friedman, (757) 222-5218, vicki.friedman@pilotonline.com