WATERLOO, Wis.— A Wisconsin couple is celebrating nearly four decades of Valentine’s Days together, after falling in love over some of the state’s best-known traditions. 

It all started in the 1970s at a 4-H meeting. 

“I introduce myself and about five, six people off to my right around the circle, was this young lady that says, 'I'm Debbie,”' says George Crave. “I had to reach over and move, like who is that cute little gal that I've never met?”

George and Debbie Crave were in high school at the time. They quickly became inseparable. 

They ended up delaying getting married, because Debbie was named Alice in Dairyland in 1981. 

“We postponed our wedding for a year and we're married in ’82,” Debbie says. 

After separate careers in agriculture marketing and farming, George and Debbie decided to go in together to build Crave Brothers Farmstead Cheese in 2001. The Crave family farm was already a big family project, with lots of Craves involved in the process. 

“We make fresh mozzarella, mascarpone, cheese curds, and queso Oaxaca,” George says. 

He loves to make cheese because of the creativity involved. Yes, creativity. 

“We don't get out of plane, a train, or travel by car, that we don't stop at a cheese factory or farm or grocery store,” Debbie says. “We are always learning, and looking, and touring. So we'll go to Switzerland and we don't just go to the traditional chateau or museum. No, we go to the farm or cheese factory.” 

Their life is pretty much all cheese, all the time. 

Since they live and work together, that means the two of them spend a ton of time in one another’s company. That wouldn’t work for everybody, as some couples are now learning during the pandemic. 

“Stuck in the office, and at home,” Debbie says, “I found out I can really work okay with my spouse. We share an office, and sometimes we have the same vision. And sometimes we duke it out a little.” 

Debbie says one of the keys to their happy relationship is having healthy, respectful arguments. 

“George is such a great guy because I tend to hold a little bit of a grudge, and he'll be more forgiving,” she says.

Their love story started with Wisconsin’s proudest pastimes: Dairy and farming. 

And now, after three kids, a successful business, and 38 years of marriage, their advice for lasting love is simple. 

“When you get married, you say, 'I do.' That means, 'I do.' And we mean it; we work at it,” George says. 

“We love cheese; we love each other.”