Toby Keith may be better known for his patriotic anthems and rough-and-ready party hits than he is for his love songs, but offstage, he had one of country music’s longest-standing marriages.

Keith met his wife, Tricia Lucus, just a couple years after graduating high school. At the time, he was working in the Oklahoma oil fields, and in his spare time, he and his band played at local bars. It was at one of those fateful shows that Keith met Lucus, and they married on March 24, 1984, after three years of dating.

They raised three children together. Lucus brought a daughter from a previous relationship, named Shelley, into the marriage, and Keith adopted her. They’d go on to welcome two more children over the next several years: A daughter named Krystal, who eventually followed in her dad’s footsteps to pursue country music, and a son named Stelen.

Related: Remember When Toby Keith Married Tricia Lucus?

Over the years, they quietly remained one of country music’s most steadfast couples, and Tricia was unfailingly at her husband’s side after his stomach cancer diagnosis, which he announced in June 2022. In March 2023, the couple celebrated their 39th wedding anniversary.

Keith died on Feb. 5, just shy of two months before his 40th wedding anniversary to Tricia. The family shared the news in a statement posted to Keith’s social media, explaining that he died “peacefully” while “surrounded by his family.

“He fought his fight with grace and courage,” the statement went on to say. “Please respect the privacy of his family at this time.”

Read on to learn more about Keith and Lucus’ forty-year love story, including all the highlights of their life together and the work they did to support pediatric cancer patients by establishing the Toby Keith Foundation.