Though their lives ran parallel for many years and they even attended the same high school, David and Lillian Griffith of Fairview Township were actually brought together by a blind date arranged by his brother. Above, the couple, who were born in the same hospital just one day apart, as they looked in their younger days.

FAIRVIEW TWP — David and Lillian Griffith were born a day apart and delivered by the same doctor in the same hospital. Although the pair attended the same high school, they officially met several years later while on a blind date.

"As quirky as it was how we met, we're still together," said Lillian, who was earning her teaching degree when the couple met in 1965.

Although David was on leave from military service in Vietnam, he also became a teacher, retiring in 2003 from his job as a physical education teacher in the Allegheny-Clarion Valley School District.

"You work together, you play together," Lillian said, noting their careers in education only overlapped by a semester before she quit to start a family.

"You live together, laugh together, cry together," her husband said.

The couple's first date was arranged by David's brother, Lynn, who worked at the dairy where Lillian held a summer job.

The date included seeing the John Wayne movie "The Sons of Katie Elder" with Lynn and his wife Elaine.Although the Griffiths don't remember many details of their second date, they do recall sitting in a Dairy Queen and realizing their paths had crossed multiple times before, beginning as early as birth.Both were delivered in 1944 by Dr. Templin at Memorial Hospital in Johnstown — she on March 3 and he the following day.Although the pair corresponded as friends when David returned to military duty, they intersected more permanently the next time he returned home."When he walked off the plane I was so happy to see him," recalled Lillian, who had agreed to pick David up so he could surprise his parents."Before he left to go back to the Navy we were engaged," she said.The Griffiths met in 1965, got engaged the following year and married in January 1968, having spent only 54 days together."Everything else was phone calls and letters," Lillian said.

They now have two children and four grandchildren, one with a birthday that piggy-back's theirs."It's March 3, 4 and 5," David said. "We're going to celebrate all week."<br></br><br></br><br></br>

David Griffith

Lillian Griffith