Meyers celebrate 70 years

SWAN VALLEY - Henry Meyer Jr. and Joan Rodamer celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary on May 11. They were married May 11, 1951 in South Carolina.

Henry and Joan were high school sweethearts from Lyndhurst, New Jersey. They wanted to get married and have a church ceremony but Joan's parents did not approve of the marriage. The thought of Henry sweeping Joan away to some remote, untamed location and "homesteading" was not what they wanted for their young daughter.

Although Joan was 20 years old and young women beginning at 18 years of age did not need their parents' consent, young men under the age of 21 did need to have their parents sign for them to get married. Henry was also 20 years old and his parents approved of the marriage but out of respect for Joan's parents they refused to consent.

Joan and Henry eloped to South Carolina to a state that did not have an age limitation requirement for a young man to marry. The couple returned to New Jersey, gathered their belongings and headed out in a 1937 Chevy, zig zagging across the country until they found a remote spot that suited them to settle down.

They stopped for gas in Missoula and someone told them they should check out the Swan Valley. They got stuck in the mud about at the Missoula / Lake County line (the road was a dirt road at that time) and Ray Fenby came along and pulled them out. Ray asked them what they were doing clear out here from New Jersey and Henry said, "We're looking for some land to buy."

Ray said, "Well, if you are going to buy land you are going to need a job."

Ray sold them the property they still live on today and gave Henry a job at his sawmill that was on what is Old Mill Road today. They raised four children in the little log house they built.

After Joan retired from the Forest Service and Henry retired from log home construction, they spent the winters in Baja Mexico. Now they stay year round in their home on Lion Creek in the Swan Valley.

 

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