Contact: Dick & Diane Baumbach, Worldwide Marriage Encounter, 321-544-3440, dickanddiane66@bellsouth.net 

SAN BERNARDINO, Calif., Feb. 1, 2012 /Christian Newswire/ -- The couple who was honored last year as the Longest Married Couple in the United States by Worldwide Marriage Encounter has been featured in a two page article in the new JC Penney magazine.  Marshall & Winnie Kuykendall of Lordsburg, New Mexico will be married 83 years on Valentine's Day.

"We are so pleased that JC Penney chose to recognize last year's national winners," said Scott & Karen Seaborn, the United States Leadership Team for Worldwide Marriage Encounter.  The Seaborns serve with Fr. Tom Griffith, SVD in the role of the U.S. Ecclesial Team.

The JC Penney magazine is the start of a new marketing effort by the company.  The circulation of the magazine, which is sent to its customers, is 14 million. 

"Just like last year, Worldwide Marriage Encounter solicited nominations starting in October for the Longest Married Couple honor in the United States for 2012.  We used radio, television, newspapers and the internet to seek the nominations. The closing date for nominations was January 10th. The honor this year goes to Wilbur & Theresa Faiss of Las Vegas, Nevada.  The Faiss' have been married 78 years," the Seaborns said.

There were also 47 state winners this year who were nominated for the project.  Those winners were announced earlier in the week.

The leadership team added, "We are aware that there may be couples married longer, but we want to focus on the nomination process so that family and friends can be involved in this very special program."

In order to have more couples recognized and honored each year, Worldwide Marriage Encounter set up an alumni association so that previous winners could not succeed themselves year after year.  However, any previous state winner could win the national title the following year if they were nominated and had the longest marriage.

JC Penney sought out the Kuykendalls to help launch their magazine effort in February, traditionally known as Valentine's month.

Worldwide Marriage Encounter has been offering weekend experiences for over 43 years and is considered the original faith-based marriage enrichment program.  The programs are continually updated to keep abreast of changes in society, and WWME now offers evening and half-day programs that are presented at parishes and other church facilities.  The weekend program, traditionally presented as an overnight experience at a hotel or retreat center, can also be presented at the parish where the couples return to their homes in the evenings.   WWME has a presence in over 90 countries, which makes it the largest pro-marriage movement in the world.  In North America, the WWME programs are presented in English, Spanish, French, and Korean languages.

Worldwide Marriage Encounter offers married couples the opportunity to spend time together away from the busyness of the world to focus on each other.  It offers tools for building and maintaining a strong, Christian marriage in today's world.  To learn more about the Worldwide Marriage Encounter weekends online, go to wwme.org, or you can call 1-800-795-LOVE (English) and 1-800-599-AMOR (Spanish), or contact the WWME Office at (909) 863-9963.