Couple married 70 years honored by world leaders, celebrities

BAKERSFIELD, CA (WABC) -- Richard and Mary Arambula just celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary and received an honor that left them speechless.

Everybody from Bill Clinton to Billy Crystal along with all the living presidents sent them letters of congratulations.

Their most treasured response was from the Vatican.

"I treasure that one quite a bit," Richard Arambula said.

It happened because their granddaughter, who is living in Germany, decided to reach out to world leaders to honor them.

"First, we wrote the Vatican," granddaughter Belinda Banister said. "Then we got a response, and then we started thinking, who else can we get? And it just went from there."

It took Banister more than a year to coordinate the undertaking, which she says was a labor of love to honor her grandparents.

"We thought we would maybe get 10 responses," she said. "But we never dreamed of getting 150 responses. It's insanity."

Mary, who is a baseball fan, says it's difficult to find her favorite. But she's leaning toward the signed baseball card from Steve Garvey.

Their granddaughter also reached out to Joan Rivers' people, and her publicist sent them a brooch and a shawl.

After decades together, the Arambulas shared their key to a successful marriage.

"We've had to learn to be tolerant toward one another," Richard said. "To forgive and forget and move on."