It was a beautiful day in the '50s, and I noticed Louis and June Beirwagen were eating lunch at the Bear Paw Coffee Shop & Deli, their daughters Cherie's deli. I had always wanted to interview them, and I immediately thought, "It's Valentine's Day month." Now it would be a good time.
I started with a quick question for Louis. "When, were you married? He laughed and said, "Dec 27, 1953. Two days after Christmas." June immediately replied, "I don't recommend that. Too cold, too hard on everybody attending and all the workers."
They met at the church here in Big Sandy at the Christ Lutheran church. June's from Highwood, and she came to Big Sandy to teach Home Economics and PE.
He was an usher at the church. Louis said, "the fact that she came to church on the first Sunday she was here really impressed me. That was the beginning.
Sig Boettcher was giving her a tour of the church, and Louis was down in the basement counting money, and June got an introduction.
Louis said, "I asked her out to lunch a couple of times, and then we had a date. The first date I was going to meet her on a certain night Saturday night....." June inserted, "I don't think it was the first date, but if you say so." Louis continued, "On the first date, no it was the second date, I was to meet her at a specific time and on the wall was a note, 'Gone to Great Falls'"
June told me, "My sister came from Highwood in a car to visit me, and I didn't see her very often. There weren't any phones." So, she left a note.
Louis laughed, "II thought I would try it one more time."
I was struck by the fact that it was directly above us that June had her apartment. I could see Louis climbing the stairs, probably a little nervous, and then just seeing the note gone to Great Falls.
They were married in Fort Benton. She finished teaching that year before they moved out to the farm. June said, "Actually, he has never lived anywhere else. He was born there and never left."
They have four children, Diane, Cheri, Duane, and Karen. They also have 11 grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren, June said, "there are always some on the way, or just arrived."
Since Valentine Day is coming, I had to ask. "You've been married for 66 years, what's most important in a marriage?"
They were silent for just a moment when June said, "The one thing you must decide when you get married. It's a commitment, and you keep that. Some people think we'll try it out."
I asked Louis if he was romantic. He laughed and said, "You probably shouldn't have asked that." And laughs again. June said, "It's good to be in love."
Cherie had come over to the table, and I asked her what she had learned from her parent's marriage. She was quick to answer, "Patience." I turned and asked Louis, "Do you have patience?" He was laughing when Cherie responded for him, "He has grown to have patience."
Louis said, "When we were in our early years, I was so busy farming, and I didn't see her problem with work. Now that I'm retired, I am washing the dishes trying to make up for the years I lacked." June added, "But don't give him a vacuum cleaner that's too difficult."
They still like living in the country, on the farm. Someone always checks on them, and they can pretty much take care of themselves. They laugh when Louis says, "I can't carry a watermelon by myself, because it's too heavy." But they've learned if they put it into a bag and one carries one side and the other carries the other they can bring it into the house. When they walk on the unsteady ground, they hold hands, and everybody thinks how cute it is. But they only hold hands to help them both stay upright.
"I enjoyed farming," Louis said. "I never finished high school. I only had one year. It was during the war, and my brother, who was ten years older, was in the army. In my second year, my dad got sick." He was 16 when he took over the farm. He remembers when his dad got sick because they were binding oats into bundles when his dad told him he'd have to finish himself. He went to the hospital for six weeks, and it took several years for his dad to recuperate, and by that time, Louis was doing so well his dad just let him continue.
She graduated from Highwood High school, but she was a farm girl. She and her sister lived by themselves for the last few years while they were going to school. She remembers they had a coal stove and didn't know how to use it until someone came and should them so they could have a little heat in the morning.
He had one sibling, and she had 11. They are both the only ones living in both of their families.
June told me they would travel to visit, "Siblings would celebrate, and we would join them. They went all over the country to visit family and help celebrate. I've been told, 'Vacation wasn't vacation if you just visit family,' but that's what we did." There isn't any family left to help celebrate now except their children and their families.
He likes to drive around every day to see what is going on. "I don't go with him. I don't think it's too exciting to see trucks being loaded."
He's 92, and she is 89. Louis told me they were married for "Sixty-six years and one month."
Happy Valentine's Day.
