Harold and Jan's Story

Harold and Jan’s Story

Courtship to Elopement
Shortly after meeting Harold, Jan thought to herself, “Harold, I’m going to marry you.” It was the fall of 1961 and the two met through the young adults club at St. Paul’s United Methodist Church in downtown Cedar Rapids, which was near each of their apartments.

After a whirlwind courtship, the two decided to elope, getting married February 23, 1962, at the church of Jan’s sister, Teddy, with Teddy and her husband, Jim, serving as witnesses. Harold and Jan called their families, who were excited because they had given up hope that Harold and Jan would ever get married at their advanced aes of 30 and 29, respectively.

There was no honeymoon (all of their traveling was to come later!) and they returned to their activities as if nothing had happened, waiting for the surprised reactions from work colleagues and friends. For example, the members of Jan’s bowling league were shocked to see the ring on her finger, and were even more surprised to see that there  wasn’t just an engagement ring, but a wedding ring, too!

Harold and Jan become Mom and Dad
It wasn’t long before Harold and Jan became parents. Daughter Nancy was born in October 1962 and the three moved into a mobile home at Tower Terrace in Hiawatha.

Son Randy came along in June 1965, and, a year later, the four of them moved into a new $20,000 home built in the Bowman Woods neighborhood, which at the time consisted of two streets and was at the very edge of town.

Daughter Karen was born in January 1967 and all three children grew up in the house in Bowman Woods, where Harold and Jan still live today.

Family vacations were a top priority for the couple, and they made sure that there were family trips, even if they had to take out loans to pay for them. The family packed up their car and traveled to places such as Colorado Springs, Lake Okoboji, Wisconsin Dells, St. Louis, The Ozarks, Kansas City, and Seattle.

For more than 30 years, Harold worked as a mechanical, electrical, and civil engineer for the federal government, retiring in 1994. Jan was a homemaker, except for several years in the late 1970s and early 1980s when she went back to work as a receptionist at a dentist office to help pay for the kids’ college expenses. From 1982 to 1989, Harold and Jan helped to put their three children through the University of Iowa. This entailed making innumerable trips to Iowa City to help move their kids in and out of dorm rooms and apartments, and keeping their checkbook at the ready.

Even with the kids out of college, things didn’t slow down for Harold and Jan. The two did quite a bit of traveling, with trips to San Diego, Grand Canyon, Las Vegas, and Hawaii, and cruises to the Great Lakes, Alaska, Cancun, and the Panama Canal. Jan also joined the Sweet Adelines and enjoyed performing and traveling with the barbershop group. Harold came along on trips to competitions in New York City and San Antonio. Other international trips the two took include Ontario, Canada, in 1982 to follow Nancy and Randy in the Emerald Knights Drum and Bugle Corps, and Oxford, England, for Nancy’s wedding in 1986.

Mom and Dad become Grandma and Grandpa
After waiting for 31 years, Harold and Jan became grandparents in July 1994 with the birth of Nancy’s son, Jack. Jack was followed by Thomas in January 1997 and Katie in 2000. Randy and his wife, Anne, had daughter Alayna in April 2004 and son Russell in May 2006. Karen and husband Lee live in Cedar Falls, with one “grand-dog” and two “grand-cats.”

These days, you will find Harold and Jan staying busy by keeping up with their children’s and grandchildren’s  activities and volunteering at Unity Center, where Harold is the historian and Jan sings in the choir and helps to edit the weekly email newsletter. Harold is also active in NARFE (National Association of Retired Federal Employees), and has coffee every week with a group of retirees from his office. In the summer, Harold tends his flower garden, while Jan tends to all the wildlife, and stray cats, in the area year round with her Wildlife Café in the backyard.