Margaret Ann and Bill Holt celebrated their 49th wedding anniversary on June 21, 2012.

They took their wedding vows at their home church, Shettles Memorial Methodist Church in Austin, Texas.

On that special day in 1963, they each promised to "take thee as my lawfully wedded [spouse], to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish till death do us part. According to God's holy ordinance, and thereto I plight thee my troth."

Their 49 years together have been characterized by a loving partnership and teamwork.

While Bill was working on his Ph.D. in physics at the University of Texas in Austin, Margaret Ann helped by being the "typist on call" to prepare the first draft of his dissertation before it was sent to a professional typist for finalizing in a standard format.

Margaret Ann also helped in the physics lab on occasion when Bill needed an extra pair of hands.

After they moved to Fredericksburg, Bill assisted Margaret Ann in 1970 in leading the Fredericksburg Self-Study group, an environmental awareness group.

They raised two wonderful sons, Ben and Andrew, and rejoiced together as they did the parenting things: Sunday school, vacation Bible school, computer clubs, soccer teams, swim lessons, Scouts, taking refreshments to school for class parties, demonstrating science experiments for some public school classes, etc.

Bill and Margaret Ann served as co-chairs of education at their church, St. Matthias United Methodist Church, for several years, and also led a Christian Parenting Sunday school class for several years. They both served on the church's visitation teams. They have served as delegates to some UMC Ashland Conference meetings, and for some Virginia Annual Conference meetings. They currently serve as facilitators for the Monday morning prayer meeting at St. Matthias UMC. They attend an early morning Bible study class once a week and exercise together regularly at a class at the community center.