Minute by Minute, Hour by Hour
SEELEY LAKE – Ron and Joan Wollan celebrated 60 years of marriage May 20. Having met as freshman in high school, they attribute their marriage success to their faith and belief that divorce was never an option.
Ron and Joan met as freshman at Lincoln County High School in Eureka, Mont. There were 62 in their freshman class. Due to the Korean War, only 13 from the class graduated including Ron and Joan.
They started dating at the end of their junior year. Ron said his best friend Ray was dating Joan's best friend Bonnie so they thought it was a good fit.
By the time they graduated high school in 1955 they knew they were going to get married. They were engaged in November.
"I asked her dad if I could have her hand in marriage and went into hock and bought her a diamond engagement ring," said Ron.
Ron explained that home life was tough because everyone had to work. Joan was raised on a farm and Ron's parents owned and operated a combination grocery store, feed store and hotel.
"We figured the two of us could live a whole lot better than we had it at home," said Ron.
They were married in the basement of the parsonage of Holy Cross Lutheran Church in Eureka because the church was still being built.
"The [parsonage] was full," said Joan who added that their 50-75 guests made for a big wedding for Eureka.
Ron said they intended to get out of Eureka but those plans didn't work out. Joan went to work for the Chevrolet dealer and Ron started as a laborer with the US Forest Service (USFS) for $127 per month.
"It was a fun time to work for the forest service because we marked timber, piled brush, fought fires, worked on roads and surveyed property boundaries," said Ron. "We did everything."
They rented a house on Main Street, right across from the theater. Going to the theater was their entertainment twice a week.
"It was so easy to go to the theater for a quarter. We could both go to the theater [for $0.10 each] and split a bag of popcorn for five cents," said Joan.
The Wollans bought a two-bedroom house in Eureka in 1958 for $6,000. They used Ron's fire money to make the $1,300 down payment.
Ron received his letter for the draft on his birthday, Dec. 18, 1959. He was in the Army Jan. 6, 1960.
"On Good Friday, 1960 I had orders for Korea. On Saturday, they got rescinded and I got orders for Germany. Then on Easter Sunday I had orders for another war zone. Then on Monday I had orders for San Francisco [Calif.]. That's where I ended up going," said Ron.
Ron served slightly more than two years as a private, first class in counter intelligence in San Francisco. He worked with eight others who were analysts looking for communists. They investigated army officers who were applying for different positions that required secret clearances.
Ron made $92 per month. Joan worked as a controller at a sheet metal factory in Sausalito, Calif. to help make their mortgage payments on their home in Eureka. For entertainment they would tour the wineries getting free samples all day.
"We were just a couple of hick kids from Montana," said Joan. "We were looking for an apartment in San Francisco and we got down into the deep black area of San Francisco, a wrong way on a one way street."
Ron said they saw a wall of cars coming at them with all black drivers as the light changed. "I slammed that thing in reverse and we backed up, turned around and down and out of there."
The army representative helped them find a place in San Refael, Calif. after realizing that they were living in a bad neighborhood in San Francisco.
"We weren't used to bad neighborhoods," said Ron. "They were all the same coming from Montana."
While in California, they rented out their home in Eureka and had all of their belongings in storage in an old school house that Joan's parents owned. Someone stole almost everything.
"They took all his shirts and all our sheets," said Joan. "Those were the days when pink shirts for men were in style and my parents saw the pink shirts later. They were good friends of my parents and they were really, really poor people. My parents didn't want to cause a riff. The kids didn't have clothes to wear. When the kids showed up in pink shirts, they just didn't have the heart to do anything about it."
"It took us [many] years to replace everything we had lost," said Ron.
Ron was released from the army in 1962 and they returned to Eureka. Ron worked for Gambles delivering washing machines and Joan returned to the Chevrolet garage.
In 1965, Ron took a job with the Soil Conservation Service in Billings, Mont. working as an engineering technician. His boss encouraged him to stay with the engineering field even though he had no prior experience.
Joan worked as a tax accountant for Tom Kelly Accounting during tax season for two years. Her last year, she was due March 1 with their first child.
"My boss said, just bring your suitcase along and we will get you to the hospital," said Joan and laughed. "He [Dean] was born on a Sunday and I worked that Friday."
Their first son Dean was born in 1967. Gene, their second son, followed in 1968. Joan no longer worked full time but would do fill-in work when needed from home for Tom Kelly Accounting.
Ron transferred to the USFS in Great Falls working as an engineer building roads. He retired in 1994.
Joan worked from home as the state treasurer for the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod from 1972-2000. She started out working five hours a week and in the end worked half days.
The Wollans spent a lot of time watching their boys playing soccer and loved to go camping, fishing, boating and water skiing.
"We had a lot of fun with sports and the lake activities," said Ron. "We always had a boat. We loved to fish and kept what we caught. Someone would always eat the fish."
Ron continued, "It was always a fight when we went out with the boat. The one boy was an avid fisherman and the other was an avid water skier."
Joan added, "They could never get along because they both wanted to do their thing when the water was calm."
In 1996 they purchased a home in Seeley Lake. They wanted to be closer to Joan's sister Helen and get away from the wind in Great Falls. After selling their home in Great Falls, they moved to Seeley Lake in 2001.
When asked how they have kept their marriage going for 60 years Joan laughed and said, "Minute by minute, hour by hour, day by day. [Seriously] I would say our church and the faith that we both have."
Ron added, "God has really blessed us. It's just been a really supportive adventure all the way through. People have just been there for us."
Ron recommends married couples get involved in a church to help sustain their marriage. "The church is the one place where you are going to find real, honest support mentally, emotionally and spiritually," said Ron. "And go fishing and take your spouse."
"Don't get married with the thought that if it doesn't work there is always divorce," said Joan. "Forget the fact that there is divorce. Neither of us has ever believed in divorce. Instead believe your vows."
Ron said, "Joan has been a real rock and has been what I needed."
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