She then giggles, and her husband smiles and chuckles.
Yes, it appears wit would be on the Gorleys' list of secrets to marital longevity.
On Oct. 8, the 96-year-old Forkland native and his 90-year-old bride from Casey County will celebrate their 70th wedding anniversary.
In the living room of their picture-filled house in south Danville, the couple recently did some recollecting and reminiscing — and, yes, a lot of laughing, too.
The couple met in Danville when he was about 25 and she was 18. An 11th-grade dropout from Forkland High School, W.T. Gorley was a car salesman. A Moreland High School graduate, Christine Wilcher worked at the old F.W. Woolworth store.
"I don't know if you'd call it a real date, but the first time we were together as a couple was when W.T. and his friend took me and his friend's girl to our homes," she says.
Two years and many real dates later, the couple tied the knot on Oct. 8, 1939, in her home in Moreland.
"We set up housekeeping in a four-room apartment that was attached to the old Polina Store in Forkland that was owned by W.T.'s grandfather, Ben Gorley," Christine Gorley says.
Life on the move
They then embarked on a life as near nomads.
"We kept moving because W.T. kept pursuing different lines of work in different places," she says. "To W.T., the grass was always greener somewhere else."
Gorley says he just liked trying his hand at a variety of different occupations.
"Since I left high school as a teenager, I worked hard at whatever I did, and I liked to do a lot of different things," he says.
In approximate order, those "things" included selling cars, working construction, driving a school bus and working as a school janitor, driving a bread delivery truck, managing Gorley's and Calhoun's general stores and farming.
But he did finally settle into a job. He worked for 26 years for Corning Glass, retiring in 1979.
Meanwhile, Christine Gorley worked at the old Montgomery Ward store in Danville, right after she had been at the Woolworth store. She later worked at the Gorley's store and at American Greetings.
"Of course, I had another job on the side," she says. "I had three children to raise, Bob, Glenn and Betty."
The Gorleys lived in Forkland, Moreland, Junction City, on Hayes Lane, back to Moreland, back to Forkland, and then Danville, where they have been for the last 15 years or so.
During the first few years of W.T. Gorley's retirement and with their kids grown and out of the house, the couple did some traveling. She also took an art class, and he hunted.
"W.T. used to hang out at Walmart with his friends," says Christine. "Everybody's a friend to him. He'll talk to anybody."
They also were active in their churches, Sycamore Church of Christ in Forkland and now West End Church of Christ in Danville, and with the Forkland Festival.
"We like to think the festival is a celebration of our anniversary because it's held the same time of year," she says.
But the couple have cut down on their activities.
"I guess about the most exciting thing we do is sit in the house and look at each other," says Christine Gorley with a laugh. "When we get tired of doing that, we look at the TV."
Grandchildren's visits bring excitement
Visits from the grandkids tend to bring some excitement to the house. The couple have six of them, plus 16 great-grandchildren.
As their guest was winding up his chat with the couple, he asked the question that is asked of all couples that have been married for a half century or more: "To what do you attribute your long lives and long marriage?"
"We've led pretty clean, sober and simple lives," says Christine Gorley.
W.T. adds what he thinks has been the key.
"Every night, when we get into bed, I turn to her and say, 'I love you,' and she says, 'I love you' back to me."
The bride, however, says there is a condition to her returning her love.
"I will say 'I love you' back to him providing he has folded and not wadded his clothes that day," she says with a giggle.
