Paul and Jewell Willhite, Lawrence, will celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary with a reception at 4 p.m. Sunday at Centenary United Methodist Church.
The couple were married May 31, 1959, at West Des Moines Methodist Church, in West Des Moines, Iowa.
Paul earned a Bachelor of Science degree in chemical engineering from Iowa State College, in Ames, and a Ph.D. in chemical engineering from Northwestern University, Evanston, Ill., in 1962. Jewell earned a Bachelor of Science degree in home economics with a major in applied art from Iowa State College, in Ames. They have lived in Lawrence since 1962, when Paul became a faculty member of Kansas University’s chemical and petroleum engineering department, where he is a professor.
They have five children, Elizabeth Wilhelm, Longmont, Colo.; Mark, Grandview, Mo.; Ben, Battlefield, Mo.; and Sara Stilley and Rachel Lechtenberg, both of Lawrence; and 14 grandchildren.