Sheridan Public Library
How long have you been married? Sheridan residents Les and Martha Pence have been married for 60 years, and they are celebrating their anniversary from 2 to 4 p.m. on Saturday, June 9 with a reception in the Community Room of the Sheridan Public. Friends are invited to attend but gifts are not necessary.
So how did the Pences end up in Sheridan? That is a long and winding story. Les was an educator; specifically, he was a music teacher. After high school in Columbia City, he went to Morehead State College in Kentucky and earned a degree in music education. Interestingly enough, while in college he formed a student jazz band which played at various Kentucky venues and became so well known that the Governor named him an honorary Kentucky Colonel, an honor he cherishes to this day!
After college and a stint in the Army, Les moved to South Whitley, Ind., and began teaching music to students in the local school. As luck would have it, some friends introduced him to a sweet young farm gal from Shipshewana by name of Martha Prough. They were married less than a year later.
The Pences spent the next few years in various Indiana communities as Les pursued his career in education. They had lived in a variety of communities over the years as Les earned his master’s degree from Indiana University – Bloomington. He moved up the education ladder from teacher to principal and finally to being a superintendent. In 1963, he received his doctorate in education and eventually became the superintendent of Sheridan Community Schools in 1972. In 1980, he became an assistant superintendent at Carmel, working there until he retired.
Martha was a housewife and mother of three rather active boys who, as boys are wont to do, make her life a challenge at times. After arrival in Sheridan she became a school bus driver for Sheridan Community Schools, a position she held for some 35 years, but her primary job was, and always will be, a mom, grandmom and great-grandmom to the ever-enlarging Pence clan.
The Pences moved to Sheridan in 1972 and have lived over on First Street in the same house for going on 50 years now. Their three sons – Randy, Terry and Mike – grew up here in Sheridan and are familiar to many in the community. Today, there are more Pences than ever before what with grands and great-grands, but Les and Martha always remember birthdays and anniversaries, graduations and weddings, and everything else associated with a long and loving life blessed with good successes.
If you know the Pences, please drop by the library on Saturday and wish them well. They and all their children, grands and great-grands would welcome the chance to renew old acquaintances and make new ones.