After 71 Years Of Marriage, Nappanee Couple Still Going Strong
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By Jen [email protected]
The Andrews Sisters topped the charts.
Minimum wage was 40 cents an hour.
And Bert Ganshorn and Mabel Cain tied the knot.
Seventy-one years later, movies, music and the minimum wage have changed, but the Ganshorns are still going strong.
The couple grew up together in Kosciusko County, Bert near Leesburg and Mabel near Etna Green. He graduated from Atwood High School in 1934, and she is a 1932 Etna Green High School graduate. According to Bert and Mabel, not too many people got high school diplomas back then.
"Friends of ours suggested we date," Bert said, and the rest is history.
Bert and Mabel were married April 24, 1938, in Mabel's parents' home near Etna Green with the Rev. Berlin Yeager officiating.
"Average people got married at home back then," Bert said. "We got married on a Sunday morning around 8 a.m., went to church at 9:30 a.m. and then her mother helped with a wedding dinner after church."
Bert took two days off work to celebrate the wedding, but the couple did not take a honeymoon until a year later. After visiting relatives in Cincinnati, they made their way to the Smoky Mountains and Washington, D.C., in their black Ford V-8 car.
The couple made their first home west of Leesburg in Bert's grandparents' home. The old farmhouse had no electricity or indoor plumbing, which was not uncommon in those times. Kerosene lights were used in the home, and there was an outhouse.
A few months later, the couple moved to a place south of Nappanee - their first home with electricity and indoor plumbing.
In November 1939, the couple moved to 202 N. John St., Nappanee, where they made a home and raised their family since.
Mabel gave birth to their first child, a son, Jerry Ganshorn, in the home in 1940.
"The doctor and nurse came here (to deliver the baby)," said Bert.
The couple's second child, a daughter, JoAnn, was born in 1946 at the old Goshen Hospital.
Through the years, Bert worked at a small grocery store and then filled in as a relief driver for a bread truck. Eventually, he bought his own bakery route and delivered bread to people's homes six days a week.
Once World War II came along, Bert said, he condensed the route to four days a week and continued that way for 25 years. Later he became an insurance salesman.
Mabel was a homemaker and retired from Ganshorn Printing.
The couple raised their children and sent them both to Ball State University, a fact that the Ganshorns are very proud of. Through the years the family has grown as Jerry and JoAnn married and had children of their own. The Ganshorns have four grandchildren: Alex Barrett, Elizabeth Barrett, Chris Ganshorn and Tony Ganshorn; and two great-grandsons, Brady Ganshorn, 5, and Bennett Ganshorn, 2.
So what advice do Bert and Mabel have for other married couples?
"It's a commitment, and it's a lot of give and take," Bert said. "It's not all sunshine."
"Just take it one day at a time," Mabel added.
Now the couple spends much of their time at home, but they enjoy the occasional dinner out.
"At my age," Bert said, "well, you can't do too much when you get to be 92. We go out to eat once in a while. My wife still cooks - she's a good cook."
At age 94, Mabel says her family still enjoys it when she makes chicken and homemade noodles. She also bakes pies.
"She makes my two favorite kinds of pies," Bert said. "Hot and cold."
The couple celebrated their anniversary with a family dinner at Das Essen Haus May 2.
What kind of changes have the nanogenerians seen in their lifetime?
"We grew up in the horse and buggy age, and now we're living in the space age," said Bert. "My grandpa helped set poles for the first telephone system, and now everybody has cell phones."
He also added that family life is much different now than it was in the past.
"Often both the mother and father work and children have no parental supervision. Raising a family is a full time job," he said.
Many things have changed since the Ganshorns got married in Mabel's parents' home, but one thing has remained constant - their love for one another.[[In-content Ad]]
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The Andrews Sisters topped the charts.
Minimum wage was 40 cents an hour.
And Bert Ganshorn and Mabel Cain tied the knot.
Seventy-one years later, movies, music and the minimum wage have changed, but the Ganshorns are still going strong.
The couple grew up together in Kosciusko County, Bert near Leesburg and Mabel near Etna Green. He graduated from Atwood High School in 1934, and she is a 1932 Etna Green High School graduate. According to Bert and Mabel, not too many people got high school diplomas back then.
"Friends of ours suggested we date," Bert said, and the rest is history.
Bert and Mabel were married April 24, 1938, in Mabel's parents' home near Etna Green with the Rev. Berlin Yeager officiating.
"Average people got married at home back then," Bert said. "We got married on a Sunday morning around 8 a.m., went to church at 9:30 a.m. and then her mother helped with a wedding dinner after church."
Bert took two days off work to celebrate the wedding, but the couple did not take a honeymoon until a year later. After visiting relatives in Cincinnati, they made their way to the Smoky Mountains and Washington, D.C., in their black Ford V-8 car.
The couple made their first home west of Leesburg in Bert's grandparents' home. The old farmhouse had no electricity or indoor plumbing, which was not uncommon in those times. Kerosene lights were used in the home, and there was an outhouse.
A few months later, the couple moved to a place south of Nappanee - their first home with electricity and indoor plumbing.
In November 1939, the couple moved to 202 N. John St., Nappanee, where they made a home and raised their family since.
Mabel gave birth to their first child, a son, Jerry Ganshorn, in the home in 1940.
"The doctor and nurse came here (to deliver the baby)," said Bert.
The couple's second child, a daughter, JoAnn, was born in 1946 at the old Goshen Hospital.
Through the years, Bert worked at a small grocery store and then filled in as a relief driver for a bread truck. Eventually, he bought his own bakery route and delivered bread to people's homes six days a week.
Once World War II came along, Bert said, he condensed the route to four days a week and continued that way for 25 years. Later he became an insurance salesman.
Mabel was a homemaker and retired from Ganshorn Printing.
The couple raised their children and sent them both to Ball State University, a fact that the Ganshorns are very proud of. Through the years the family has grown as Jerry and JoAnn married and had children of their own. The Ganshorns have four grandchildren: Alex Barrett, Elizabeth Barrett, Chris Ganshorn and Tony Ganshorn; and two great-grandsons, Brady Ganshorn, 5, and Bennett Ganshorn, 2.
So what advice do Bert and Mabel have for other married couples?
"It's a commitment, and it's a lot of give and take," Bert said. "It's not all sunshine."
"Just take it one day at a time," Mabel added.
Now the couple spends much of their time at home, but they enjoy the occasional dinner out.
"At my age," Bert said, "well, you can't do too much when you get to be 92. We go out to eat once in a while. My wife still cooks - she's a good cook."
At age 94, Mabel says her family still enjoys it when she makes chicken and homemade noodles. She also bakes pies.
"She makes my two favorite kinds of pies," Bert said. "Hot and cold."
The couple celebrated their anniversary with a family dinner at Das Essen Haus May 2.
What kind of changes have the nanogenerians seen in their lifetime?
"We grew up in the horse and buggy age, and now we're living in the space age," said Bert. "My grandpa helped set poles for the first telephone system, and now everybody has cell phones."
He also added that family life is much different now than it was in the past.
"Often both the mother and father work and children have no parental supervision. Raising a family is a full time job," he said.
Many things have changed since the Ganshorns got married in Mabel's parents' home, but one thing has remained constant - their love for one another.[[In-content Ad]]
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