Apache Couple Married 67 Years After Meeting at Age 6

Two six-year-olds walked into the Jicarilla Apache Boarding School in Dulce, New Mexico in 1952, torn from their families and thrust among strangers. Seventy-five years later, Roberta and Everett Serafin are still together, married for 67 years after meeting on that first frightening day.

The Serafins are members of the Jicarilla Apache Nation. Like thousands of Indigenous children across America, they were forced to attend federal boarding schools designed to push them into mainstream culture.

"You were being taught, brainwashed, or whatever you want to call it," Roberta said. "You were a white person at school, and then when you went home, you were Apache."

The couple stayed until early high school, denied their language and culture during those formative years. They faced verbal abuse, called slurs that Roberta says "sticks with you."

"Losing the family security is one of the major effects," Everett explained. "You find yourself by yourself among strangers, people you have never met."

But amid that trauma, something beautiful happened. Two scared children found comfort in each other, a connection that would last a lifetime.

The Bright Side

In January, the Serafins shared their experience with the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition. The organization is collecting survivor stories for permanent archives at the Library of Congress and the Smithsonian's American History Museum.

"We've had some people who have come to us and said, 'I've shared my story, but nobody believed me,'" a coalition representative said. "By having over 300 interviews so far, we're helping those individuals who can say, yes, my story is the truth."

Across the United States, 526 boarding schools operated, with nearly 50 in New Mexico alone. For decades, many survivors carried their experiences in silence, their stories dismissed or ignored.

Now those voices are being preserved for history. Each interview validates not just individual experiences, but a shared truth about what happened to Indigenous children in America.

The Serafins' story shows both the depths of historical trauma and the resilience of the human spirit. Their 67-year marriage stands as proof that even in the darkest circumstances, connection and love can flourish.

"That's one of the good things that came out of it," Everett said about meeting his wife all those years ago. Together, they're ensuring the full story, painful parts and all, will be remembered.