Alyssa Orr

Ted and Darlene Zaehringer have been married for 43 years. They have nine children and 20 grandchildren, some still living near the family home in Elizabethtown, others scattered across the country. Love for, and from, his family infuses every aspect Ted’s life. It is the joy that counterbalances the suffering caused by serious health problems that have marked nearly all of the 66-year-old’s adult life.
One day 44 years ago, Ted — then a paratrooper-in-training — was headed back to base at Fort Bragg, when a car accident destroyed his spleen and caused severe damage to his liver. Chronic medical problems resulting from his injuries, including dangerously high blood ammonia levels, have required repeated hospitalizations, including one of several days’ duration just a week before these images were made.
Despite the frequent doctor visits, and a long list of medications required to support her husband’s declining health, Darlene remains optimistic about the couple’s future. Love and hope are her constant bulwarks against potentially crippling anxiety.
“I plan for the worst,” Darlene said. “That way if it happens I don’t fall to pieces,and if it doesn’t happen, then I say, ‘that was easy!’”
She’s far from ready to get along without her husband. ”It scares me to think of being alone because I have relied on him so much,” Darlene said. “I would be lost without him.”
So instead of dwelling on the physical ill-health that challenges them both, the couple focus on maintaining the health of their relationship. “I learned a long time ago it takes two to make a marriage,” Ted said. The couple eats together and prays together. They converted to Mormonism together in 1979 and today teach together in their church.
“We’ve grown up together,” Ted said, explaining how the good and bad over the years have served to strengthen his bond with his wife. Whatever tomorrow may bring, Darlene agreed, ” You start together, and you end together.”

In Sickness and in Health