Joseph Frederick (Joe) Lightfoot and Marylyn (Lyn) Bradford Craig Lightfoot celebrated their 50th anniversary on June 13, 2009. The couple first met at a sailing party and was married on June 13, 1959, in Sacred Heart Church in Bellevue. They honeymooned in Victoria, Canada, staying one night at the Empress Hotel. They took the boat back to Seattle, with Mr. Lightfoot saying to Mrs. Lightfoot on the boat, “I’ve got $9 left in my pocket,” and their adventure began.

After living briefly in Juanita, they moved to Mercer Island, where Mr. Lightfoot was born and raised. His father, George Lightfoot, was an early Island settler, known as the “father of the Lake Washington Floating Bridge.”

Mr. Lightfoot grew up hunting and fishing on the Island with his cousins and later worked as an engineer and public servant for the town of Mercer Island, the state of Washington and Boeing. He was also a former mayor of Mercer Island. Mrs. Lightfoot, a native of Boston, spent her early years as a grade school and preschool teacher in Bellevue Public Schools and Pixie Hill Preschool, and was the founder of Bellevue Country Day School. Together, they founded a successful management company, which grew out of an apartment building on Capitol Hill that they turned into a short-term residence for families coming to Seattle for bone marrow transplants at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.

One of Mr. and Mrs. Lightfoot’s greatest hobbies has been dancing. In their early years, Mr. and Mrs. Lightfoot’s Jitterbug was known to clear the dance floor, and in their later years they rose through the ranks of the square and round dance. They have also enjoyed traveling around the Pacific Northwest in their trailer and traveling overseas. Their home remains a gathering place for friends and family. They are also longtime, active members of St. Monica Catholic Church.

Mr. and Mrs. Lightfoot celebrated their anniversary early with their two children, children’s spouses and six granddaughters on a week-long cruise to Alaska through the inside passage and are looking forward to an informal family party this summer. Congratulations from: George and Suzy Lightfoot, of Mercer Island, and their three daughters, Emily, Lindsay and Carly; and Liz Lightfoot and Bill Plummer, of Saint Paul, Minn., and their three daughters, Maxine, Alice and Ruby, the extended Lightfoot and Craig families, and hundreds of friends.