Rick and Jan were our first “couple friends” when I took the job in Addison. They had one child, Greg, and we had two, David and Elizabeth. The four of us were young and just beginning our careers. Rick had been promoted as the new Addison Middle School principal, and I was hired to lead the elementary school.
The night I was hired I had to walk through a teacher’s picket line because of a lack of a teacher contract. Rick walked with me while Jan entertained Ruth in their home. When we returned home after that first board meeting we learned that Elvis Presley had died.
They took us under their wings and showed us the local ropes. We learned about the community, real estate (Jan was our realtor), Friday night football, tacos at the Highland Beach Inn, bars we could frequent (The Timbers) and those we shouldn’t (Pirate’s Cove).
They introduced us to the local characters who we knew only by their nicknames: Moon, Buck, Digger, JB, Doc Kelly, Charlie, Andi and Hobie. Their were others that we knew by their last names: Prange, Gilmore, Stoner and Tibbs . Many months passed before we figured out which lady went with which man and most of that occurred during after parties following Friday night football games.
They introduced us to a couple, Pat and Dave, that had a baby boy about the same age as Elizabeth. Jan helped us find a cottage on Round Lake where we lived while we waited for our newly purchased Lake LeAnn home to “close”. Pat and Dave lived nearby.
Jan, Carolyn Dixon, (the superintendent, Roger’s, wife) and Ruth shared child rearing duties. Greg, Dana and David were about the same age which made play time duties for all three mothers more bearable. They didn’t know it at the time but the three ladies were the originators of “playgroups”. Playgroups are now commonplace and have grown in popularity because of the three trail blazers.
We were invited to play in golf leagues and taught how to play bridge. Rick invited me to sub in his monthly poker game where I learned new games of chance, got fleeced, and did some fleecing of my own.
Rick and I saved money by chopping wood together to feed our fireplace inserts. The wood burners helped us lower our utility bills. We made extra money by painting an apartment for one of our real estate tycoon friends. And we tried, but failed, to make extra money by betting on horse races.
Our families continued to grow. The Lanes added Ryan and Elizabeth. Ruth and I had Michael. In fact, Jan was the first person to find out that Ruth was pregnant with Michael.
After a time, Rick’s professional ambition grew and the Lane’s moved to Newberry where Rick became superintendent. Our friendship continued. We visited them, they visited us, and we took continued spring break vacations with the Addison group to Myrtle Beach. The Lanes, the Tebos, the Moreys, the Binns, and Missy McElduff grew up together during those trips.
After learning the ropes in Newberry, Rick took the reigns in Hillsdale, and ultimately, became superintendent of the Saginaw Intermediate School District. Jan earned her teaching degree while Rick climbed the professional ladder and established herself as a highly talented educator.
They retired a dozen years ago and moved to Florida. The couple has become prolific fisher people. They cruise the Caribbean on a regular basis. Between fishing, cruising, and floating in their pool, they end up spending almost as much time on water as they do on land.
Rick is a professional card player. The income from this supplements his retirement and social security payments. Jan is a community leader and has started wearing “red hats” on a regular basis.
Jan once confided in Ruth that when she married Rick that she planned to reassess their status at the end of their first year together. I expect that she planned to “reup” on a annual basis. The annual renewal has continued to the point that they are celebrating 50 years of marriage. Couples reaching that milestone are rare these days.
I think that sustaining a relationship for that long takes several ingredients. “Love, lust and like” are three words that come to mind. Perseverance and a poor throwing arm are also high on that list.
Once, a very long time ago while the Lanes still lived in Addison, Rick made an error in judgement that Jan took exception to. I don’t recall what he did, (It probably involved golf, perhaps a bar, and a clock.) but I very clearly remember her response. She threw several tomatoes at Rick. He ducked and dodged until she went through an entire bag. If one would have hit its intended target, the subsequent years may have turned out differently.
Happy Anniversary.
Awwww! Thanks Bob for including us in your writings! By the way, he backed into a tree driving my car and when we got out he looked at the giant dent in the trunk and said, “It’s not too bad!” It’s a good thing I was carrying tomatoes and not knives or guns. I just kept getting madder because I was hitting him with the tomatoes but they weren’t breaking! That must have been 45 years ago, so the rest of that year must have been okay!