Glenna and Dale were both farm kids. Glenna was from Jackson Township and graduated from Jackson Township H.S. in 1942. Dale lived in Taylor Township and graduated from Kokomo H.S. that same year. They met while still in school at Bethany Park Church Camp in Brookston, Indiana, during the last week of August, 1940. The very next Sunday, September 1st, Dale drove into Glenna's driveway and was walking up to her house, when he spied her coming out of the henhouse carrying a basket of eggs. After chatting for a bit in the middle of the barnlot, he asked her for a date that evening. Glenna agreed, and at 7 p.m. he returned with his friend, Roy Crume, and Phyllis Summers, a close friend of Glenna's. They attended a show at the Sipe Theater and afterwards stopped in at the Doris Soda Grill for a hot fudge chocolate sundae and a coke. The price of the show was $.50 each, the sundaes cost $.25 each, and the cokes, 5 cents. "Those were the good ole days!"
Dale and Glenna were both active in their churches, his was the Macedonia Christian Church and Glenna's, the Church of Christ in Converse. Most dates were on Sunday evenings. Besides church activities, they attended Rural Youth and 4-H Junior Leaders' meetings, where Dale did the calling for square dancing, and, of course, there were four years of church camp each summer. They dated during the war years, when gasoline and tires were rationed. One had to have a stamp issued by the Government to buy a new tire or have the old one retreaded, or retreaded again, or else stay home. They had great times dating and would not trade those days for anything.
Dale and Glenna went together for four years and one month before marrying in a double-ring ceremony in Glenna's church. Her sister was her matron of honor, and Dale's brother, Dwain, served as best man. After the wedding reception, they made a short honeymoon trip to Indianapolis in their 1940 black two-door Ford. The next day it poured down rain most of the day, and by evening, the couple had to return to farming east of Kokomo in time to do evening chores.
They have 3 children, Sandra (Mrs. Lee) Lampiris, Stephen Kent Duncan, and Lisa Ann (Mrs. Scott) Carpenter, in addition to 4 grandchildren, and 2 step-grandchildren. They are proud of their family and thank God for their 57 years of marriage.
The secret of their success: "There's a lot of give and take to marriage."
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