AUBURN — Alphena was 16, from New Hampshire and visiting relatives in Lewiston. Joseph was 22, working his family dairy farm.

Her parents said don’t do it. You’re too young; he’s too old.

They dated for three months and ignored the naysayers. Asked if Joseph proved a good husband, Alphena said, without going for a laugh, “So far.”

The Richards celebrate their 75th wedding anniversary Wednesday.

They lived on their own until last year when he had an accident with his lawn tractor. Now, both are at Clover Health Care in different wings.

“It must have been love,” said Joseph, 98 next month.

The couple talk to each other in French, their first language. They have two sons, Roger and Paul, and spent the first few years of married life in a logging camp near the Canadian border.

When they resettled in Lewiston, he started a business, Joseph Richard and Sons, working in gravel and landscaping.

“We always worked together, inside, outside,” said Alphena, 91. She took orders and kept his books.

In their younger years, they danced on Saturday nights. Waltz, fox trot, polka.

“They really danced at their 50th anniversary,” Roger said. At that party, his father took the stage and sang, “Be sure it’s true when you say I love you.”

Until last year, Joseph cut the grass and plowed their driveway. Roger said he pulled up to the house a few years back to find his father on the roof, peering into the chimney.

“I was worried about him. I said, ‘You’re kind of old to be up there,’” Roger said. His father didn’t want to hear it.

Before moving into the nursing home, “He was taking care of her, good care of her. He started cooking when he never did,” Roger said.

The Richards are in good health, though he’s started using a walker. Alphena lives in the Alzheimer’s unit at Clover; Joseph in restricted living. Staff take her to him so they can have lunch together at least three times a week. They visit in a room with plush recliners and an outdoor view, and are sometimes spotted holding hands.

Family are throwing them a party Wednesday evening.

“They said it wouldn’t last,” Alphena said.

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