Norbert & Marie HAMMES married 74 years -- 2015

HAMMES

Posted By: Joey Stark
Date: 10/11/2015 at 18:26:13

"The Fairfield Ledger" and Town Crier
Friday, September 18 & Tuesday, September 22, 2015

Norbert & Marie HAMMES
Fairfield couple has been married 74 years
By Andy Hallman
Ledger news editor

Norbert and Marie HAMMES can say something about their marriage that few others can: It has lasted nearly three-quarters of a century.

The Fairfield couple has been married 74 years. No. 75 will be on Nov. 28, two days after Thanksgiving, the day it was on in 1940 when they wed.

Marie

Marie just celebrated her 96th birthday. She was born Sept. 14, 1919 at her parents' home near Richland. She had two brothers and three sisters, and they atteneded a Catholic school in Harper and later in Keota. She said she enjoyed school, particularly her classes on spelling and arithmetic.

"Kids today can't add without a calculator, and that's not right," she said.

Her mother taught her how to crochet and embroider, and those became her favorite pastimes. To this day, she has kept with her an embroidery of Mary with her little lamb.

An unfortunate embroidering accident that befell her when she was 20 years old made the front page of the Keota newspaper. In January of 1940, she accidently ran a very thin No. 13 crochet hook through her index finger. Not only was it a deep and painful wound, but the young lady had to be taken to the dentist's office in Keota for an X-ray because it was the only place in town with such a machine.

The accident could not have happened at a worse time because a terrible snowstorm was blowing through the area. Her parents' only means of transporting her to the dentist's office was by horseback. The doctor assisting her, G.E. Montgomery, had never ridden a horse in his life, but had to on this occasion. In the Keota paper the following week, Montgomery reported he was still feeling the effects of that horseback ride.

The needle was eventually found and removed, but Marie reported her finger was frozen stiff for many years, although fortunately she can move it freely today.

Norbert

Norbert was born in Keokuk County in 1913. He had five brothers and four sisters. As a boy, he helped with all the farm chores that included milking cows and feeding the horses, which he rode to school. His parents did not have tractors at the time, so the horses weren't just for riding but also for plowing the fields.

He attended Clear Creek school where Clear Creek Church is today, southeast of Harper.

When he was only 2 or 3 years old, he vividly remembers playing in the corn crib near the house when his mom came running out. He noticed the house was on fire. Someone had to run back inside to get his sister, who was asleep in a bed in the kitchen.

The fire burnt the house to the ground, but luckily for the HAMMES family, their neighbors were very generous. They brought lumber over to build a new house. To get a sense for the wages and prices at the time, Norbert's father paid the construction workers who built the home $1 per day, corn sold for 2-3 cents per bushel and cattle sold for 2-3 cents per pound. A car cost $25. His parents were among many to buy one of the first mass-produced vehicles - a Model T Ford.

The new house had indoor plumbing and, a few years after it was built, Delco electricity, something the old house did not. As a boy, Norbert's favorite pastimes were playing baseball and fishing on the Skunk River.

Norbert recalls an incident when his neighbor herded cattle on the road and coaxed them to Harper. One cow got nearly all the way to Harper, but jumped a fence and ran away. By the next day, the cow had returned to the original pasture, five miles away.

First date

The couple remembers well the exact date they laid eyes on each other: April 18, 1938. It was a Monday, and in those days the KC Hall in Harper hosted dances every Monday night, a bit unusual since most dances were on weekends. After their first dance, Norbert asked Marie if he could escort her home, and she agreed. From then on, the two went to every Monday dance at the KC Hall for almost three years.

When asked what kind of dances they liked to do, the couple said they danced Waltz, boogie, square dancing and later, the jitter bug.

When they weren't dancing, the couple enjoyed attending friends' birthday parties, Sunday outings with other couples and movies -- many, many movies. They frequented movie theaters in Keota, Sigourney and Washington. Marie kept a journal of all the movies they saw in the theater, which included "The Wizard of Oz," "Kentucky," "Yes, My Darling Daughter," "Hell's Kitchen" and "Raving Tumbleweed."

At that time, Norbert was a farm hand for Joe Conrad. He and Marie had lived through the Great Depression, which he said was "hard to take." They remember the terrible chinch bugs of the 1930s that left corn stalks bare, leaving very little to harvest.

"They put tar in the ditches to trap the bugs, but the living ones just climbed over the top of the dead ones," Norbert recalls.

Marie lived at home until the two were married in 1940.

"I was my dad's right hand," she said. "I picked corn, milked cows, and did everything with dad."

Wedding date

Norbert proposed to Marie in July 1940, and the couple was married Nov. 28 of that year, which happened to be Thanksgiving. They initially wanted to be married on a different date, but the priest told them it was booked and suggested getting married on Thanksgiving. They thought it was a bit odd, but agreed anyway.

Soon after they were married, World War II began, which meant rationing of consumer goods. Marie has kept a number of the rationing books and stamps from that era.

During the war, they lived on a farm two miles from Washington, where they stayed for six years. In 1947, they moved to a farm between Fairfield and Packwood, where they lived for 62 years before moving to Fairfield in 2009, where they've been ever since.

The couple had seven children together: Jim, Rose, Carol, Stephen, John, Barbara and Mary. Of the six who are still living, four live in the Fairfield area. They've since added a number of grandchildren and a plethora of great-grandkids, too. They have 16 grandkids and 36 great-grandchildren -- 18 boys and 18 girls. One of those great-grandchildren is married now. The HAMMESes have been able to go to all their grandkids' weddings, which is something they are very proud of.

The family put on a birthday party for Marie on Sunday, Sept. 13 in Marion. All of her children and about 25 people in all were able to attend.

"I brag on my family a lot," Marie said. "They are very good to us."

Secrets to success

Marie said the key to a long and happy marriage is not necessarily that the couple always sees eye to eye. The trick is to be able to make amends after the scuffle.

"If you get in trouble, kiss and make up," Norbert advised.

The HAMMESes have certainly had to overcome their share of adversity. A car accident in 1963 send five of their children to the hospital. One of their daughters, Carol, was feared to be paralyzed because she could not move her legs when the ambulance arrived.

On the ride to the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics in Iowa City, Carol reported she could move her legs. For six weeks, she laid in a mattress with her head below her body.

"She never once complained about it," Marie recalled.

Fortunately, Carol was able to make a full recovery.

Honor

Norbert received a special honor earlier this year when he was named the oldest active member of the Knights of Columbus during a ceremony at the Coralville Mariott Hotel. Five of their children were on hand for the occasion. Norbert has been a knight since 1934, when he was 21 years old.

*Transcribed for genealogy purposes; I have no relation to the person(s) mentioned.

Norbert & Marie today -- click here
 

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