43 – Dig a Little Deeper

Intro

Going back over some piece of research, you can almost always learn something new by digging a little deeper into the story: perhaps there is additional data, perhaps it just requires a bit more thought. Last week's blog was about the supper club my aunt and uncle joined as newlyweds, and which lasted 63 years. Most of the data for that blog came from a short conversation I had with my 95-year-old Aunt Gladys this last month on a visit to Colorado.

After hearing about this, more questions eventually found their way into my head; luckily Gladys is still with us, and so I was able to quiz her a bit more. I also searched for the various club members online, finding them in high school yearbooks, family trees, newspaper articles, obituaries.

Recipe for a successful "supper club"

What was the "recipe" that made the club successful? I found the high school yearbook entries for some of the members:

Richard Knaus, Longmont HS class of 1946 

Dwight Wederquist, Longmont HS class of 1947    

Barbara Wright (Thomason), Longmont HS class of 1946

Jane Jones (Rundle),  Longmont HS class of 1947

The women, especially, were very active in their classes (the men only attended the high school for junior and senior years). The McCook Nebraska yearbook for 1946 isn't available, but Gladys appears in a number of clubs as a junior in 1945. Given the limited opportunities for women in the work force at that time, certainly some of their energy and skill was channeled into this supper club.

The Longmont High School connection was part of the "glue" of the club. And Dick Knaus and Dwight Wederquist were first cousins, having grown up within shouting distance of one another.

How did it last so long?

The couples lived long lives, and all but one stayed married: Dick and Gladys lived to celebrate their 67th wedding anniversary, similarly to other marriages in the group. The members stayed put in the area, for the most part; Dick and Gladys did move 3 hours away for almost a decade, but the club had been well established by then, and had an importance in their lives that made it possible to continue to meet even with the travel involved. 

Three of the couples had farming in common. New hobbies and interests developed, including airplanes (two of the couples), and golf. Starting out at similar points in their lives, the experiences of living around Longmont and raising families, and finally, growing old, increased the gravity of the club for the couples. The obituaries for a couple of the members even mention the club as a notable accomplishment and interest.

[To be finished...]