1940

November, A family friend introduces Billy to Ruth Bell and they begin dating.

1941

March, Ruth drops out of school to take care of her sister, who is convalescing from tubercular peritonitis.

1941

April, Ruth and Billy nearly break off their dating relationship. She is so crushed she tries desperately to contact him.

1941

April 29, Ruth tells Billy she loves him.

1941

June, Billy asks Ruth to marry him.

1943

August. 13, Ruth and Billy marry.

1945

Ruth and Billy move to Montreat, into an upstairs bedroom in the Bells' home.

1945

September, .Ruth gives birth to their first child, Virginia Leftwich (GiGi).

1947

Ruth is pregnant with their second child, Anne.

1949

Fall, Ruth joins Billy for the Los Angeles crusade, and the nickname "Puff Graham" is coined.

1950

November,. Billy begins a radio program that Ruth christens, "Hour of Decision."

1950

December, Ruth Bell ("Bunny") is born.

1950

President Harry Truman invites Billy to the White House.

1952

Billy writes his first book, Peace with God, with Ruth's assistance.

1952

July, William Franklin Graham III is born.

1952

Billy goes on the 12 week Greater London Crusade. Ruth accompanies him.

1953

In the Chattanooga, Tennessee crusade, before the Civil Rights movement had begun, Billy instructs the ushers to let African-Americans sit wherever they want. This happens one year before the US Supreme Court rules that racial segregation in public schools is unconstitutional.

1954

Ruth designs the home in Black Mountain.

1956

The Grahams move into Little Piney Cove.

1957

Billy holds a crusade in New York.

1957

June: Billy's television career begins.

1958

May: Nelson Edman (Ned) is born.

1962

Billy's father dies.

1963

President John F. Kennedy is assassinated. Billy becomes known as the White House chaplain.

1963

Los Angeles Crusade

1966

May: Crusade in London.

1969

Spring: Crusade in Madison Square Garden.

1969

Richard Nixon becomes President and establishes church services in the White House.

1971

Nixon appears in Charlotte for Billy Graham Day.

1973

President Johnson dies and Billy preaches at his funeral.

1973

Ruth's father preaches at Swannanoa Presbyterian Church. Later that year, he dies.

1973

Ruth goes to Bangkok, China.

1974

Ruth falls from a height of 15 feet while visiting GiGi and is in a coma for a week. Later that year, Ruth's mother dies at home.

1975

Ruth and Billy go to Taiwan for a crusade and return later that year.

1976

The Grahams' vacation in Mexico is interrupted by an earthquake.

1977-1980

Ruth travels around the world twice with Billy.

1980

Ruth goes to China with Rosa and her brother Clayton. They visit their hometown Qingjiang.

1982

Billy preaches in Moscow, the first time a Christian minister is allowed to preach there.

1984

First official crusade in Russia.

1992

Billy is diagnosed with Parkinson's. He returns to Russia for a full-scale crusade.

1996

Ruth gets bacterial spinal meningitis, partially caused by a treatment for degenerative arthritis from the fall.

1996

On May 2, President Bill Clinton presents Billy and Ruth with the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest honor Congress can bestow on a citizen.

2001

On September 14, Billy Graham addresses the nation in the National Cathedral after the September 11 terrorist attack on the United States.