We all know Chip and Joanna Gaines have one of the strongest marriages in the entertainment biz, but it turns out that Joanna's parents have a pretty incredible love story themselves. Jerry and Nan Stevens were married 45 years ago, and their daughter says their decades-long relationship is a source of inspiration for her. "My parents met in 1969 when my dad was stationed in Korea and their story is one you hear about in the movies," Joanna wrote on Instagram. "All the odds were against them but they fought through."Jerry and Nan met at a party in Seoul, Korea. "Interesting enough, the way my mother tells it, she spotted my dad sitting off by himself in a corner at that party and said to a friend of hers, 'That's the man I'm going to marry,'" Joanna wrote in her book, The Magnolia Story. "Her friends thought she was crazy, but she says she just knew."A few months later, Jerry moved back to the United States, but the two kept in touch through letters. Not long after that, he sent her a plane ticket and asked him to marry her. None of their parents approved, but they were married by a justice of the peace in Las Vegas during the summer of 1972 anyway. However, there were some problems early on in their marriage, apparently prompted by drug use and cultural differences. "From what they've told me, they actually had a rocky marriage for several years," Joanna wrote in The Magnolia Story. "There were times, they say, when they didn't think they would make it because all they did was fight."Things turned around after Jerry's mother passed away. "He envisioned himself in a casket, with his family surrounding him, and it hit him just how wrongly he was living his life," Joanna wrote. "He knew he didn't want to end up in that casket the way he envisioned, leaving my mom alone to fend for herself." After that wakeup call, Jerry landed a job with Firestone, which lead to several promotions, including a job at the Firestone tire store in Waco, Texas, where Joanna would later meet Chip. All these decades later, Jerry and Nan are still together and reside in Waco, Texas, where Nan frequently stops by Magnolia Market and leads prayer groups on site. "Forty-five years later and they've never been stronger," Joanna wrote on Instagram. " became an example of how to love, fight for, extend grace to, and honor each other amidst all their many differences." No wonder Chip and Jo are the epitome of a great marriage—they learned from the best!(h/t Pop Sugar)