Don and Dorothy Jones celebrated 50 years of marriage on Nov. 27.

Between them, they had already experienced 32 years of marriage with another partner. Dorothy had two teenage sons and Don had two sons and a daughter well on their way to adulthood.

Dorothy had been assisting Don in building his resort-motel, Meadowcliff, near Coleville, in Mono County, and at about the time it was completed they tied the knot in Carson City. They tried very hard to make a go of Meadowcliff during the next two years but finally had to move back to the grind in Southern California.

In 1999, Don's daughter stayed at Meadowcliff and discovered that the current owners had no record of who had built it. The present owners, Tim and Mary Fesko arranged for a grand celebration in June of this year of three events that all occurred on Nov. 27, 1959: Jones' anniversary, Tim was born, Meadowcliff was officially opened for business. It was a great party with many of the Jones' people and his friends in attendance.

In the meantime, the Jones' are enjoying their golden years for the last 22 years at Lake Wildwood.