Growing up as a kid in Burien I was usually recognized as “Bernadine’s boy” or “one of the Ted Mathisons.”

Nowadays, out and about Burien, I’m identified as Mr. Mathison’s brother.

After more than 30 years at Highline and Glacier high schools, it sometimes seems like my second-oldest brother, Phil Mathison taught chemistry, physics or tennis to almost everybody in Burien and their brother. Throw in his substitute teaching and volunteer coaching since retirement and he’s known by a whole new generation.

Case in point—the young server at a Normandy Park restaurant.

“You look so familiar to me,” she observed as she handed me a menu.

“Well, you probably saw my column photo in the Highline Times,” I replied, straightening up in my chair.

“I never read newspapers,” she declared proudly.”

Yep, she took Chemistry from Mr. Mathison. So did the husband of a former freelancer I met at a walk ‘n talk last week. As did the rocket scientist we did a story on years ago who mentioned the inspiration he received from his high-school Chemistry teacher.

Those who don’t know Phil know his wife, Leona who taught for years at Sunnydale and Seahurst. When Mrs. Mathison cracked open an arithmetic book, her sixth-graders knew “math is on.”

Fact is it seems like most people in Burien know both Phil and Leona.

That why this Sunday about 200 of their closest friends and family will honor the couple as they celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary at the Cove.

I was there at the beginning.

Since Phil is nine years older, growing up it wasn’t so much a case of two inseparable brothers. It was more for me like observing a reality show version of “Ozzie and Harriet.”

I gauged how stuck he was on a girl by whether he wrapped her gift or had my mother do it. When he asked my engineer father to wrap Leona’s present, I knew it was serious.

They graciously allowed this geeky 15-year-old little brother to be an usher at the wedding. I took to the job so enthusiastically they feared I would kidnap passersby and seat them in the church.

So 50 years later, I asked them if it was love at first sight.

Phil: “Yes. When you know, you know.”

Leona: “No.”

They met on a double date. Phil was with Leona’s sorority sister.

But Leona wowed life-long athlete Phil with her ice-skating ability and the announcement she was going snow skiing the next day.

“It turns out those are the only two sports she can do,” coach Phil recalls.

After determining Phil had finally stopped hedging his bets and really broken up with her friend, she started warming up.

Although he drove a sporty yellow Triumph TR-3. Leona said she was “impressed by the guy, not the cute face or car.”

He sort of proposed to her on April Fool’s Day and pinned her with a well-worn fraternity pin that had graced the sweaters of a couple of other girls.

She made him go down to Friedlander’s with his dad and buy a proper engagement ring.

So just six months after they first met and two days after they finished summer school they married. The jilted sorority sister was a bridesmaid.

For $55 a month, the newlyweds moved into a cabin overlooking Three Tree Point—one of those accessible only by a long dirt trail. When Phil sprained his ankle, he moved back home with his parents and Leona crawled under the cabin with his dad to help unfreeze the pipes.

With only one car, Phil dropped Leona off at Sunnydale Elementary in the morning and picked her up after he finished coaching practice at Seahurst Junior High.

“My principal thought I was the most dedicated teacher in the world because I always stayed late,” Leona said.

They found a new house in Manhattan for $16,000 where they still live.

They set a limit of $100 a month for a mortgage payment. When it came in at $101, they had to seriously think about it.

When Leona became pregnant, she had to quit teaching at Sunnydale. Female teachers were not allowed to keep working after the fifth month. Leona’s mom and dad were thrilled. Phil’s mom, a decade older than Leona’s parents, grumbled that she was too young to be a grandmother. They made her a grandmother two more times.

They say they have never felt the urge to move away from Burien or teach outside the Highline district.

“We’ve traveled enough,” Leona explains. “We love to go away but we love to come back home.”

Seventy-four-year-old Phil declares, “We don’t want any of that 55 and over stuff.” He insists nearby Sea-Tac Airport has gotten quieter.

Some teachers don’t like to live in the same town where they teach, Leona noted. They feel it is an intrusion when they run into students outside the classroom.

Phil and Leona don’t mind.

“I go up to (downtown) Burien and I have former students who are now toting their own kids come up to me and say, ‘Hey, Mrs. Mathison, remember me from sixth grade?’

“I tell them that I have never taught any kids with mustaches or beards so they have to help me out with their name.”

What I really wanted to know from my big brother and sister-in-law was how, in this divorce-crazed world, do you make it to your golden anniversary and beyond.

It helps to have the same ethics and morals, Phil advised.

Leona noted you have to choose the right person who you respect and who shares a similar outlook on life.

“And you’ve got to keep your mouth shut sometimes because you don’t want to hurt the one you love,” Phil added.

Leona gives the example of toothpaste squeezed out a tube. Like the paste, once words are out they can’t be put back in.

They love being together but they also enjoy their own outside activities.

“You can’t put everything on one person,” Leona noted. “This way, we come home and have something to talk about.”

Finances cause many couple to split but Leona says, “Money is the least important thing to argue about. You need to be satisfied with what you have.

“Also many people think they can remake the other person. It’s not going to happen.”

Leona advised her daughter, Laura to beware of boyfriends who did not maintain good relationships with their families.

Shortly after they met, Phil brought Leona home for dinner. However, after counting the table place settings she quickly deduced his parents weren’t expecting her. Another setting was quietly added.

“You should reach out to everybody, not just family,” Phil added.

“And help the community,” Leona interjected. “It doesn’t just end with us.”

They had one last marriage tip. Years ago, Phil and Leona added a family room. That’s where Leona hangs out in the evening. Phil likes it upstairs in the cozy study.

“Separate rooms, separate TV remotes,” they both advised.