Irwin and Lillian Beck were married on Aug. 31, 1947.

Irwin and Lillian Beck of Empire will celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary Friday at a family gathering.

Irwin Beck Jr. and the former Lillian Raiford of Little Rock, Ark., were married on Aug. 31, 1947 at Immanuel Baptist Church in Little Rock by the Rev. W.O. Vaught.

Mr. Beck was in the U.S. Army, serving in Tokyo, Japan, at the 49th General Hospital as a laboratory technologist. He retired from Northern Case Company.

Mrs. Beck was employed with the government’s Civil Service department as a clerk/typist, working in Tokyo. She was also a homemaker.

The couple’s children include Ellis Beck of Georgia, Judy (Terry) Gage of Cedar Springs, Vicki (Karl) Schultz of Interlochen, and Keith (Sandra) Beck of Pennsylvania. They have six grandchildren and six great-granchildren.