Ron Howard and Wife Cheryl Celebrate Their Milestone 50th Wedding Anniversary with Candid Sunset Photo: ‘What an Adventure’

Ron Howard and Cheryl Howard continue to experience wedded bliss five decades later!

The director, 71, marked the couple’s milestone 50th wedding anniversary with a post shared on Instagram on Sunday, June 8.

“#GoldenAnniversary Grateful for 50 amazing years and the family and experiences it has yielded,” Ron began his caption, sharing a candid photo of himself and Cheryl, 71, standing before a sunset.

“What an adventure down river through calm soothing waters and some tricky rapids as well. Our key … love and respect each other enough to just keep paddling,” he continued, adding, “Thank God for you, Cheryl.”

The longtime couple was met with celebratory remarks from their famous friends, including Glenn Close, who wrote, “What a spectacular milestone. And you still have miles to go,” and Katie Couric, who commented, “This is so lovely. Happy anniversary and thank you for the sage advice.”

Ron and Cheryl first crossed paths when they attended John Burroughs High School in Burbank, Calif.

“I met her, and there was never anybody else,” Ron told PEOPLE in 2019 of Cheryl. “She’s unbelievably supportive and always has been. Our compatibility has endured through all kinds of experiences.”

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Ron and Cheryl later got engaged and then married on June 7, 1975. Their nuptials were attended by Ron’s famous costars, including his TV dads Andy Griffith and Tom Bosley.

Over the course of their decades-long relationship, Ron and Cheryl have raised four children: daughters Bryce Dallas, Jocelyn Carlyle and Paige Carlyle, plus son Reed Cross.

Back in March, Ron opened up about the key to his long-lasting marriage in an exclusive interview with PEOPLE.

“I think the whole key is learning how to problem solve, learning how to communicate and beginning to trust that you as a couple, you’re good at solving this stuff,” he said.

“Sometimes you feel like you don’t want to talk anymore, ‘Just don’t. Please stop.’ And that’s the wrong path. You’re good at figuring these problems out, and you begin to trust that — and trust each other,” continued the Apollo 13 filmmaker

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Ron also said that luck has played a role in his marriage to Cheryl, explaining, “I think there’s just a lot of luck in a marriage lasting a long time. I don’t think it’s something you can will into existence.”

The Happy Days actor added, “It’s a good idea to obviously put yourself out there and be caring and loving and be considerate and all of those things, but you really have to grow together. And we’ve had that good fortune of our chemistry staying strong, our interests having grown and evolved, but somehow remaining compatible. And so there’s an element of luck there. I count myself as supremely fortunate.”