Thomas “Jimmy” Fields and his wife, Irene Fields, had been married 71 years when they participated in a 2019 video interview with the Virginia Connection online publication.
Irene Fields quickly corrected her longtime mate when he introduced himself as “Jimmy.”
“I don’t use Thomas, I use Jimmy,” he said.
“But,” she reminded him, “your name is Thomas.”
That dialogue is about the extent of the Caroline County couple’s disputes.
They celebrated their 77th anniversary on March 27, making them one of the longest-married couples in Virginia and the nation. In 2021, AJ and Lillie Reeves were recognized as Virginia’s longest-married couple on their 80th anniversary, but both have since died.
Although Jimmy and Irene Fields now suffer from dementia, one thing has not changed — they rarely have disagreements as their close-knit relationship remains intact.
“They still do everything together,” said their granddaughter and caretaker, Marquita Fields. “She’ll ask him where he’s going every time he gets up. If he’s going to the bathroom, she wants to know where he’s going. They’ve always done everything together. If my dad is going to shave him, she has to go down the hall with him to watch him shave. That’s just how they operate. They’re just that close.”
Jimmy Fields is 98 years old. Irene Fields is 96.
They met while attending a school music festival in Caroline in the early 1940s. He was 12 at the time, and she was 10. They were married in 1948.
“I knew from the first time I saw her,” Jimmy Fields told the Virginia Connection of when he realized he would marry his future wife. “That was it.”
The couple moved to New York City for better employment opportunities in 1955. They returned to Caroline in 1984 after Jimmy Fields retired from New York City Transit. Irene Fields attended Virginia State College (now Virginia State University) and later earned her bachelor’s degree and Master of Social Work from York College in Queens, New York. She served as a social worker for 12 years at the Medical College of Virginia.
The Rev. Marvin Fields, the pastor of Second Mount Zion Baptist Church in Dawn, where the family lives, said his parents traveled the world before their health declined.
“They’ve been to China. They’ve been to Alaska, Israel, Egypt, France, England, Italy, you name it,” Marvin Fields said. “They’ve traveled extensively.”
Marvin Fields said the key to his parents’ longevity is keeping God at the center of their lives. That trickled down to him and his son, Bishop Duane Fields Sr., the pastor of Oxford Mount Zion Baptist Church in Ruther Glen.
Duane Fields said he admires his grandparents for their closeness, but also for their different traits. He said that although his grandfather did not attend school beyond the eighth grade, he was a hard worker who provided for his family. Once he retired at the age of 55, he did not have to work again.
Duane Fields said his grandmother was “stern” and demanded excellence from her children and grandchildren.
“She set expectations, and she made sure we met those expectations,” Duane Fields said. “She was hard-nosed, tough as nails. She loved us in that direction. I just admire her because she’s probably the most knowledgeable person I’ve ever met in my life.”
In their 2019 interview, Irene Fields said love and respect for each other is the key to a successful marriage. She said couples must be able to discuss sensitive issues without arguing.
Duane Fields noted that his grandfather’s favorite words to his grandmother are “yes, darling.”
Marquita Fields said that continues today. While she reads the couple their mail, they still look it over and pass it to one another like a “mini assembly line.” After more than seven and a half decades of a harmonious union, Marquita Fields said she’s hopeful their longevity will prove to be genetic.
“They’ve been married this long, it’s just a blessing,” Marquita Fields said. “Most people can’t date someone two or three weeks, let alone be married to somebody 77 years. So, of course I admire everything about them. To live this long, they had to do something right. I just pray that I get that gene. I pray every day, ‘God please don’t let it pass me by.’”
