When Dr. William Hogan first saw the young woman who would eventually be his wife of now 64 years, it was at Mass — and she was receiving Holy Eucharist.
The date was June 27, 1957.
“I’d just finished college, and I took my mother to Mass in the chapel of Providence Hospital,” Bill recalled. Hogan’s mother supervised the student nurses’ residence at the Washington hospital, founded in 1861 by the Daughters of Charity, a position she took very seriously. “She ran it like General Motors,” he said, laughing.
The Mass in the chapel on that fortuitous Sunday was celebrated by then-Bishop Patrick O’Boyle, who was recovering from an illness. He needed an altar server, and Bill was deputized.
“In those days we knelt at the altar,” he said. “And I put a paten under the chin of this very beautiful blonde woman” — his spouse-to-be Carol — “and I said, ‘Oh, my gosh.’ ”
Awkward conversation later followed when both exited the hospital cafeteria. “I went home, and I said, ‘I’m gonna ask that girl for a date,’” he said. “So, I kept at it; dated her; and that led to where we are today — five children.”
The couple are sparkling storytellers; Bill also recalled that, driving from D.C. to New York for their wedding ceremony — “I had been delivering babies for two weeks at D.C. General Hospital; I hadn’t slept in two weeks”— he ran out of gas at 3 a.m., and had to rouse a sleepy farmer to refuel.
On Feb. 9, World Marriage Day, the Hogans were recognized at their parish, St. John the Evangelist in Warrenton. Worldwide Marriage Encounter, the world’s largest faith-based marriage enrichment organization, designated them Virginia representatives for the 2024 Worldwide Marriage Encounter Longest Married Couple Project.
“When Worldwide Marriage Encounter put out the plea for longest married couple nominations, I was like, ‘Oh, you know what? I can nominate these folks.’ So, I did,” said fellow parishioner Pam Bishop who with her husband, Ron, serves on a WWME team. “It came back that for the state of Virginia, of all the nominees, they had been married the longest.”
A WWME letter sent to the Hogans in December 2024 noted, “A lifelong commitment can seem like an impossible dream to many couples who are just starting off their lives together today.”
So, with even the experts admitting the odds of a successful marriage seem skewed, how can young newlyweds expect to make a marriage last?
Carol has a few ideas.
“Our Lord must be front and center in a marriage in order to fulfill his will in living this beautiful vocation,” she said. “In order to receive the graces needed, the spouses should frequent the sacraments as much as possible — especially the Holy Eucharist and Reconciliation.”
“A strong faith, the husbands, the wives, will be a powerful example for their children,” Carol said. “There are many joys that come with married life, and also suffering with problems that present themselves. With God present and fostering a strong faith, the marriage bond can only grow stronger, all being co-redemptive.”
“The children see the love that their parents have for one another by the way they treat each other, trying never to quarrel in their presence,” she said.
Her husband agreed, adding daily Mass and prayer — ‘Lord, give me the wisdom to know what to do, and the courage to do it’ — are essential.
An obstetrician and gynecologist, Bill is also a pro-life legend.
With other doctors, he formed the American College of Pro-life Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and was among the first physicians to assemble a portfolio of photos illustrating development of life in the womb and aborted babies.
In the 1970s, he met March for Life Founder Nellie Gray. Both Bill and Gray, as well as others, were busily testifying before state and federal legislatures, and frequently gathered to strategize. It was from these meetings that the March for Life sprang.
Bill received the Life Award for Distinguished Service from the March for Life (1984), as well as the Vatican’s Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice (“For Church and Pope”) medal and diploma (1973) from Pope St. Paul VI.
The Hogans’ pastor, Father Charles C. Smith of St. John the Evangelist, said the couple’s witness of faith and fidelity encourage others.
“I think they set a wonderful example for the parish,” said Father Smith. “Everybody knows them, and loves them, and knows a little of their background — so, they’re an inspiration.”
Heatherington is a freelancer in Alexandria.
