Valentine’s Day wedding anniversary reminder for elderly couple

Vows endure after 75 years

SIOUX CENTER, Iowa - Seventy-five years ago, Ted and Hilda Lubbers missed their opportunity to get married on Valentine’s Day because his father, who had been asked to officiate the ceremony already was booked for the day. Instead, the Lubbers’ tied the knot on the 15th. Because Saturdays are easier on people’s schedules, they also postponed their 75th anniversary by a day. Lubbers retired from from his barbershop nearly 40 years ago, his wife is still busy part-time and crochets flannel, hemstitched baby blankets for a local store which sells them across the United States.

Although they met in South Dakota where he worked in a hotel barbershop, the couple lived their entire married life in the Northwest Iowa Dutch American town of Sioux Center. In those days, Ted was paid 25 cents for a haircut and 15 cents for a shave. The couple keeps active; he is 98 years of age, she 97. Both help out a local textile store. The scissors people bring in for sharpening are taken over by the store to the Lubbers’ home where Ted sharpens them. Mrs. Lubbers still finishes baby blankets at home for the store she worked at for 30 years.

Two of the couple’s four children live in the area with their offspring, the other two sons have passed away. The Lubbers’ have five great-great-grandchildren.