Woodbine couple marks 75 years

WOODBINE, Iowa — A secret wedding in Papillion. A $5 ring from Brodkey’s in Omaha. A deaf judge performing the ceremony at the courthouse. Elderly and bored witnesses and a $2 marriage license. And then Gerald and Pearl Custer were pronounced man and wife.

That was 75 years ago on Nov. 30, 1934.

“But be assured everything was very legal,” Gerald said, smiling. “And we were very generous with the judge. We gave him $2.”

The couple met in Sunday School at the Evangelical Church in Harlan, Iowa, before they were teenagers. Pearl remembers Gerald’s baptism when he was 12. Both agree it wasn’t love at first sight, but the thought grew.

“I don’t really know how it happened. It just gradually happened,” Gerald said. “When we started, we went on dates. We were interested in each other. But I had four years of college and had so many things to do. Her dad died, and her mother went to California, and she almost went to California. I supposed I was lucky. We just weren’t ready.”

They did things together usually on Wednesday and Saturday nights – sometimes Sundays. The rest of the time, they were working. They remember going for rides in the car, or going to shows in Harlan, Manilla or Denison.

They dated for about six years and talked about marriage for about a year before they made the trip to Papillion for the secret wedding — kept secret from their families so Gerald could finish his college career at Drake University, which he was attending on a full-ride athletic scholarship. During the Depression, it was the only way he could afford it. And Pearl lived with her sister.

In May 1935, the secret came out but was doubted by their families. Pearl used her $5 wedding ring to convince her new, skeptical relatives. Both families consented to the marriage and so began their new adventures — together.

The couple lived in a total of two apartments and four houses in the course of their 75-year marriage — the majority of that time spent at their current home in Woodbine. They bought it for $4,000 in 1944. Gerald worked first as a teacher, and later with the current Harrison County Rural Electric Cooperative beginning in 1951 as a manager, retiring in 1978. Pearl raised their five children.

They remained active throughout the years, both holding offices at the Woodbine Methodist Church and serving on the Golden Age Center Board. Pearl enjoys reading — Edgar Allen Poe being a childhood favorite — and writing cards and letters to friends. Gerald loves his television. Gerald remembers heading over to Wayne Foutch’s to watch television when he first moved to Woodbine.

The family has grown over the years, although one of their children died. They added nine grandchildren, 15 great grandchildren and one great-great grandchild.

Looking back on their 81 years as a couple and 75 years of marriage, they claim that just being together was the best part, having a confidant in whom to share and loving each other.

The $5 Brodkey’s wedding ring passes on their love, recently worn by a granddaughter on a chain around her neck at her own wedding.

“I don’t think I could even get it on my finger anymore,” Pearl said.

The ring — the symbol of their love — brings them great pride.

“It’s just the love that kept us together,” Gerald said, looking at Pearl, who smiled back.

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