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Pat said she believes the keys
to their successful marriage in-
clude friendship, communication,
respect and giving each other the
freedom to express themselves
or do what they need to do to
be happy. She cited Vic’s love of
participating in community the-
atre as an example. “He has to do
it and I have to let him,” she said.
“
And he has been very support-
ive of me when I have needed to
do something.”
That, she said, is part of the
give-and-take every marriage
needs. “It takes that as well as
maturity and selflessness,” she
said.
Vic said
people
contemplat-
ing marriage
should “look
for bridges.
When you are
interested in
someone, look
for things
that connect
you, whether
it is music or
something
else. But
make sure
friendship
is the first
bridge. Then
you make
sure you
don’t burn
those bridges
because you
never know
when you
are going to
need them to
cross the river
again.”
JIM AND JEANETTE PRITCHARD
“
The bonds of matrimony are
like any other bonds - they
mature slowly.”
~ Peter De Vries
For more than seven years Jim
and Jeanette Pritchard had an
on again-off again relationship,
dancing around the issue of mak-
ing it permanent since they first
went on a date while both were
students at tiny Wyoming High
School.
Yet, so much had become as-
sumed by then that when it came
time for Jim to pop the question,
he really didn’t have to. “We
went up to Kewanee one day and
we were just walking around and
we ended up at a jewelry store.
It was just kind of assumed by
everybody at that point that we
were going to get married. We
just picked out the rings and
went from there,” Jeanette said
while sitting with Jim in their
Washington home.
Soon thereafter, on Aug. 5,
1962,
they were married at the
Congregational Church in Wyo-
ming. “We were high
school sweethearts. It
just took us a while be-
fore we got married,”
she said.
The wedding recep-
tion was in the high
school gymnasium.
The honeymoon was a
road trip in their 1957
Chevy. “Those were
simpler times, no ques-
tion,” Jim said.
They were always
simple, as in easy,
however. Jeanette
taught home econom-
ics, first in Tremont
and then at Washing-
ton High School, while
Jim worked for Hyster
Co. and then for Cater-
pillar, until 1982 when
he lost his job along
with thousands of oth-
ers when Caterpillar
went through a con-
siderable restructuring
and downsizing.
CONTINUED ON PAGE 24
Jim and Jeanette Pritchard are shown here on
their wedding day more than 50 years ago.
