Seven Noblesville couples reflect on 50 years being embraced by “special city”

Submitted

We didn’t realize it at the time, but Noblesville was a very special place in the last half of the 70s when we all moved to town. It seemed like a far drive through mostly undeveloped Hamilton County to get to the County Seat – population 14,000. Our wives occasionally complained that it was too far to drive to the shopping and dining that they were accustomed to.

Fast forward to Noblesville 2022 and the drive is shorter and we have an abundance of dining opportunities close at hand.

When extraordinary events happen of certain vintages, they are commonly punctuated with questions about how this happened. How have you lived so long, built a business that would last so long and, in this case, stay married to the same person for so long?

It seems even more unusual that we would have seven couples move to a relatively small (at the time) community within a few years of each other that would stay married for 50 years. I commonly say that we grew up together as adults.

We are all Hoosiers who went to college in Indiana, mostly IU, Purdue, and Butler. Even though most of us were right out of college when we got married, we were in our late 20s and early 30s when we had our children. We had play groups for our children as toddlers. We went to their school and Boys and Girls club events, soccer, baseball, cheerleading and more.

One of the moms had Christmas parties at her house for everyone and our families. That was when I started to recognize that something special was going on in our community.

We had theme parties where we would have groups lip sync and perform songs, mimicking groups of our era. For nearly a decade, the dads would take care of the kids while the girls went on a shopping trip for the weekend, and later in the summer, the dads would go to Lake Monroe and play golf, eat at “little Zagreb,” water ski and float by the dam bobbing for beers. We would then gather on a later weekend and see who could tell the biggest lies about it. These were always inclusive. Noblesville has been a very welcoming community.

Many of us also went on spring break vacations to Florida together. A few summers, several families went to the Carolina shores together and rented two large houses to hold us all. The most fun as families were the trips to Lake Cumberland where we rented three houseboats, towed three boats for skiing in the morning and tubing in the afternoons and numerous personal watercrafts for fun and exploring. Many of us did this for 10 or more summers. We had several “father-son” outings to Cincinnati to a Reds game and “the Beach” water park near King’s Island. We had “couples only” trips on Ambassadair. Having “organizers” among us to come up with the ideas for these things and others to pitch in to make it happen was essential.

We all were invited to join the local social groups and golf leagues, which allowed us to mix with “old Noblesville” as only one of us, John Green, was actually from Noblesville. We got a flavor for what had made it a place to which we had been attracted, but also allowed us to make our own marks upon it.

We not only have lived here, but we worked here, mostly in health care, law, and teaching professions. We contributed in our own ways to the schools and health care system along with a custom home builder. As we have interacted professionally with Noblesville and the surrounding communities, we have seen that the people who live here genuinely care about each other and the communities in which they live. It is that genuineness that I appreciate the most.

We worshiped at local churches as families. We have paid attention to local elections and actively supported the candidates whom we have felt best reflected our own views. We have supported the Noblesville Boys and Girls Club, Riverview Hospital, and Prevail, along with state and national organizations like the MS Foundation and the Parkinson’s Foundation.

We have attended birthday parties, baby and wedding showers, weddings for our children, and funerals for our parents and two of our dear friends. We now share pictures of our grandchildren and go to their sporting events as we have been fortunate enough that many of our children have also settled in Hamilton County to raise their children.

Photo provided

So, after all that rambling, how did you stay married to the same person for 50 years? It isn’t easy. You have to work at it and be committed to each other. You have to learn how to fight fair. You have to learn how to identify your differences as an asset and use them as such. You have to learn to respect your partner even when you don’t particularly like them at that moment. It helps if you hug a lot, look each other in the eye when you say “I love you” and mean it.

It also helps if you are surrounded by a supporting group of friends and community, and Noblesville has embraced us as we have embraced Noblesville.

To be more succinct, Family, Friends, Faith, and Community are what I think have nurtured us and allowed so many of us to reach this remarkable milestone, and one should not be surprised to hear that there are numerous couples celebrating from 45 to 49 years in Noblesville this year. This is truly a special place to live and raise your family and, apparently, to stay married to the same person for a very long time.