That instinct was apparent from the very beginning of their adventures together. Chet and Marcy met in 1982 while working at the Waco Tribune-Herald, where he was an editor and she was a reporter. Their first few dates happened in quick succession — sailing on July 5, an Irish pub on July 6 and dinner at Marcy’s apartment on July 7. According to Chet, when he got home that night, he pulled out a list he had made outlining what he wanted and what he needed in a wife.

“Marcy was everything I needed and almost everything I wanted,” shared Chet.

“I wasn’t 5-foot-10 and brunette,” she teased.

According to Chet, she was, however, and always has been, a beautiful 5-foot-2 blonde. Chet knew that night what really mattered and that he wanted to marry her. But knowing was one thing; winning her over was another. “I had to woo her. I’m a big romantic,” remembered Chet. “You have to understand what you want and what you need. Too many people chase what they want and don’t know what they need.”

Wooing required some creativity, particularly since Marcy worked days while Chet worked nights and weekends. He would sometimes get off work at midnight and take her sailing under the moonlight, or get up after only a few hours of sleep to spend her day off together.

Within months, he proposed beside a Christmas tree, and they tied the knot in June of 1983. More than four decades later, that early sense of being in sync has clearly stuck. “We’ve been married 43 years, so we often finish each other’s sentences,” shared Marcy with a laugh.

Their early years together also established another theme that would define their marriage — and one Marcy made clear would have been a deal breaker otherwise: life was never going to be boring together. Both curious and intelligent, with a shared passion for journalism, the two built careers that eventually took them from Texas to Chicago, Connecticut and London.

Chet’s career ultimately led to his role as global CEO of Reed Exhibitions, while Marcy built an accomplished career in journalism, television, public relations and corporate communications before stepping back from full-time work to focus more closely on their two sons. At one point, that choice meant intentionally downsizing their life, even though Marcy was earning more than Chet at the time. “It was a decision about the way we wanted our life to be, not what we wanted to have,” said Chet.

Each move became another chapter and another place to explore. “We’ve always embraced the adventure of life,” he added. “We both know when something is right. We spend very little time dithering. We just move forward.” That willingness to move forward took them far beyond anything Marcy imagined when Chet proposed.

“He asked me if I would follow him anywhere, and I said yes,” she shared. “I was thinking Texas.”

“She thought Texas, but we ended up in London,” laughed Chet. 

Marcy had admired Chet’s curiosity and energy from the beginning. “I wasn’t sure what he was going to do in life or where things were going to go, but one thing I knew was I would never be bored,” she said.

“After 43 years, it’s fair to say it’s never been boring,” agreed Chet.

Through all those moves and changes, however, one thing remained steady. Their Christian faith has been central to their marriage and family life, and at the core of who they are as individuals. “Our Christian faith is absolutely central to our life,” explained Marcy. “My belief in Christ is not something I set aside for the week until Sunday. I try to live my faith every day.”

When the couple moved to Boerne, they began visiting local churches and quickly found Trinity Presbyterian Church. “We went one Sunday and then the next, and both of us sat there and said, ‘This is right,’” noted Chet.

Today, the church is an important part of their community. Both volunteer, and Marcy is active in Rafiki Bible Study, a women’s Bible Study connected to a ministry supporting biblical education and schools in several African countries.

Their faith also carried them through the deepest loss of their lives, the death of their firstborn son, Chet, at age 19. They speak about that chapter not as something that can be neatly explained, but as an experience that deepened their understanding of grace and the importance of simply being present for others who are hurting. “If we had not had those deep roots of faith, I don’t know that it would have been survivable for us,” confided Marcy.

For Chet, faith is less about a checklist of good deeds than the foundation of who he is. “My identity is rooted in Christ,” he said. “You live forward with a sense of gratitude for God’s saving grace and a responsibility to reflect Christ’s love through service and caring for the world.”

That gratitude is reflected in how the Burchetts spend their time daily — serving through church, supporting organizations such as Together for Hope, which works to address rural poverty, and opening their home, quite a lot, to friends and family. And their new home was most definitely built for entertaining.

The Burchetts moved into their Cordillera Ranch home in June of this year after what they describe as an unusually smooth building experience with Paul Allen Homes. The home reflects the way they actually live, from a guest suite designed for long visits and a dedicated BBQ “smoking deck” to a pool that has already become a favorite gathering place for their beloved grandchildren, Chester and Josephine. “We spent a lot of time in the pool this summer with the grandkids,” said Marcy. “That’s one of the highlights of coming to Grumpa and Emmy’s house.”

The kitchen — or more accurately, kitchens, tells another part of their story. Marcy is an enthusiastic cook, and travel has shaped much of what she makes. Cooking classes in Italy, Croatia and elsewhere have found their way back to Texas in the form of handmade pasta, snapper carpaccio and favorite dishes remembered from restaurants abroad. “We don’t take a class everywhere we go, but we come home with a dish and try to reverse engineer it,” explained Marcy.

For years, the two even had regular Saturday cooking dates. The rule was simple: choose something neither had made before, shop for it together and spend the day in the kitchen. “Some people have pictures,” said Chet of their travels. “We have recipes.”

Chet has a separate culinary obsession: barbecue. Thus, the smoking deck. After joining a team in the Mississippi Delta, he spent seven years competing at the World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest in Memphis, earning multiple top finishes along the way. “If it’s Texas brisket, it has to be smoked with Texas post oak,” he offered when asked for an insider’s tip.

When he’s not tending a smoker, Chet might be fly fishing, playing golf or working with his bees. He and Marcy also fly fish together, although the exact ranking of who is better appears to remain under spirited negotiation. Marcy learned on England’s storied chalk streams and caught a 23-inch brown trout as her first fish.

Travel remains high on their list, too. New Zealand is calling, as are return trips to Europe, while Montana remains an annual favorite for fishing. “The reason we enjoy travel is that we enjoy collecting experiences, not stuff,” noted Chet.

That same philosophy eventually drew them to Cordillera Ranch. After returning to Texas in retirement, they initially settled near Leander on 17 acres and thought they had found their forever home. Then their son Garrett, his wife Genevieve and their growing family settled near Spring Branch. The repeated drive into the Hill Country began to change their thinking. Marcy was ready first. Just one visit to Cordillera Ranch helped bring Chet around. “It was just right,” he said. “Cordillera offered everything that fit the way we wanted to live our life.”

For Marcy, that means the beauty of the Hill Country, Pilates at the Club, friends nearby and, most importantly, grandchildren only about 30 minutes away. For Chet, it means golf, fishing, shooting sports and the sense of space he has always loved. For both, it also means community.

“We love to entertain. I love getting to feed people, spend time together and getting to know each other,” she said.

“One of the nicest things about moving to Cordillera is the sense of community here. And that’s really about relationships,” concurred Chet.

When asked to describe his wife after more than four decades together, Chet didn’t hesitate. “She’s cute as a button and perfect in every way and always has been.”

Marcy’s assessment of Chet was perhaps even more concise. “He is not boring,” she said, bringing the story full circle.

For a couple whose life together has crossed continents, careers, celebrations, heartbreaks and more than a few unexpected turns, that may be exactly the point. Their next chapter is less about chasing what comes next than enjoying what they have built together — family, faith, friendships, a home full of guests and a place that, once again, simply felt right.

“Moving to Cordillera Ranch is probably one of the three or four best decisions I’ve made in my adult life,” explained Chet. “We’re content. For us, the near term is just about continuing to build on what we have here and the relationships.”

Marcy, however, has one small addition to the plan: “A few more grandkids would be great, too. That would be fun.”

Fortunately, Garrett may already be on board. Years earlier, when he began dating seriously in college, he told his father that he liked to ask women on a first date how many children they wanted. Chet warned him the question might be a little off-putting. Garrett was unfazed. Then he met Genevieve. “She told him four or five when he asked her the question, and he responded, ‘Me too!’” recalled Chet.

Apparently, knowing when something feels right runs in the family.