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 By JENNIFER TANGEMAN
Staff Writer
Few people exhibit an enthusiasm about historical artifacts as Jim Bowsher does.
When crews working for G.A. Wintzer and Son Co. started working to build new office space on West Auglaize Street, they came across some interesting finds where a rental home had previously sat.
Jim Kent and others of Kent Surveying began finding pieces of artifacts. They called in local history buff, Bowsher, to try to figure out what the bits and pieces meant.
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Monday, 16 February 2009 |
By ANDREA POTEET
Staff Writer
Virgil Knoch remembers falling for his wife early on.
“We worked together at Superior Tube,” Virgil Knoch, 89, said sitting next to his wife, Virginia, 93, at a Valentine’s Day dinner at Auglaize Acres Thursday. “One of the first times I saw her, I fell down the steps in front of her at work.”
Forty-two years later, he said he is still falling for her.
Virgil Knoch visits his wife, a resident at the retirement home every day, and sometimes stays for several days.
From the beginning the circumstances of their courtship were unusual. For their first date, they visited a cemetery together to pay their respects to loved ones.
Virginia already had a daughter from a previous marriage.
Working together could have added another challenge, Virgil Knoch said, if not for one saving grace.
“I was always on the road, “ Virgil Knoch said. “I ran errands and hauled people to the airports. She was an inspector. The road helped us to not argue at work.”
Marriage has changed dramatically since they said their vows, he said.
“People generally take more of an interest in the wedding now,” Virgil Knoch said. “It’s just like a play, you get married and get divorced right away.”
Virgil Knoch said the secret to their long-lasting union is having an open mind and never staying mad for long.
“We work together,” Virgil Knoch said. “We have our disagreements, but we always make up.”
Shirley and
A. Eugene Engel
For A. Eugene Engel, and his wife, Shirley, 55 years of marriage started as an average blind date.
“I went out with my brother one night,” Eugene Engel, 81, said. “He said I had to have a date, and I didn’t want one.”
His brother’s wife fixed him up with Shirley, a friend of her cousin.
“I thought he was nice,” Shirley Engle, 78, said.
The couple hit it off, despite the opinions of friends and family.
“I would always cut up all the time,” Eugene Engel said. “They gave it two years, because they said I wasn’t serious.”
A year ago, the Engels moved to the retirement home together.
“I like having her here,” Eugene Engel said of Auglaize Acres. “I can get her to help put my neckties on.”
The secret to their long, happy marriage, Eugene Engel said, is working out differences and working together, Engel said.
“We didn’t have anything when we started.,” Eugene Engel said. “But we worked together to get everything we have.”
Evelyn and
Emmett Shoup Sr.
After two years of living at Augaize Acres alone, Emmett Shoup Sr. is happy to have his wife by his side.
Evelyn Shoup, 86, left her rural Wapakoneta home five months ago to join her husband at the retirement home.
“I like having her here,” Emmett Shoup said. “She’s not driving every day to see me, she’s with me.”
The Shoups were crowned Valentine King and Queen at the dinner.
The Shoups were also introduced on a blind date by friends.
“I thought she was very nice and attractive,” Emmett Shoup, 89, said.
They hit it off and have been married for 67 years.
The secret to their marriage is compromise, he said.
“It’s a give and take,” Emmett Shoup said. “It doesn’t work to say ‘I’m always right, or she’s always right. Divide it up and talk things over.”
Evelyn Shoup said couples should always remember a little thing that often gets forgotten in marriages.
“Tell each other you love each other very often,” Evelyn Shoup said.
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 17 February 2009 )
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