He remembers the girl with the pretty curls in kindergarten. She remembers the boy who was the teacher’s pet.

Call it destiny, but the kindergarten classmates in Los Angeles would eventually fall in love and marry while the world was at war.

After graduating from high school in 1943, Ed Carter enlisted in the Navy and was commissioned an ensign just two years later at age 19 in the midst of World War II. While on leave he went home and found Shirley, the girl with the curls.

On their first date they went swing dancing to big-band music at The Palladium, and that was it.

"From then on we went out every night," said Carter. "And then I proposed and she accepted."

They eloped, with Shirley Carter following her soon-to-be husband to Washington, D.C., where he was going to gunnery school. On Aug. 3, 1945, at Foundry Methodist Church, they exchanged vows and matching gold rings, and became Mr. and Mrs. Carter. As Ed explains, it was "a small wedding at a large church," with "the janitor and his wife, and the minister and his wife" serving as witnesses.

A month later they would celebrate another, more historic milestone: the end of the war on Sept. 2, 1945, the date Japanese officials signed formal surrender documents aboard the USS Missouri.

Both events — the Carters’ wedding and the surrender — are marking their 70th anniversary this year. Both have special meaning for Ed Carter. The retired Naval Reserve commander and businessman helped spearhead efforts to bring the battleship known as the "Mighty Mo" to Pearl Harbor as a memorial in the 1990s. He founded and now serves as chairman emeritus of the USS Missouri Memorial Association.

The Carters, both 89, reside at Kahala Nui. They have five children, 12 grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren.

"I never envisioned 70 years," said Ed Carter. "I keep telling people it shows how easy I am to get along with, but Shirley’s got a different version. It’s been great. Seventy years have gone by in a hurry."

She, too, knew early on that he was the one. In third grade Ed gave her a hand-drawn valentine. She had received valentines from other boys but his was the only one she kept. It’s framed and hanging on a wall.

Ed proposed to Shirley in the front seat of a 1937 Buick. They were parked in her family’s driveway after a date. He asked, "Will you be mine and wait for me?"

"He was a gentleman all the way through," she said.

The Carters moved to Hawaii in 1971 when Ed took a position as executive vice president at Dillingham Corp. He has also served as chairman of Bishop Museum and Aloha United Way and president of Honolulu Rotary Club. Shirley was a stay-at-home mom who volunteered as a Girl Scout leader. Both have been active volunteers with the Navy League for more than 40 years.

Although Ed Carter is clearly the one who likes to talk, Shirley can easily complete his sentences. Not that they always agree.

They’ve weathered life’s storms together, living by old-fashioned values and remembering to keep a sense of humor. The other key to a long-lasting marriage is compromise, according to Ed.

"The best advice I could give my grandsons when they got married was that a successful marriage is perfecting the art of compromise, which means you always give in. ‘Yes, dear. Whatever you think, dear.’ I like to think I’m in charge, but I’m not, really."

Shirley clarifies: "I’m the one pushing from behind, but he was always in the front."

On Wednesday she’ll be at his side as they attend the ceremony commemorating the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II aboard the Battleship Missouri Memorial. The event is open to the public, with free round-trip shuttle service available from the Pearl Harbor Visitors Center.