Love at first sight lastedby Mary Le Arneal It was love at first sight when Ann Ondracek and Jay Peters met. After 64 years, 9 months, 9 days and 12.5 hours, the love is still there and they won the Loving Cup as the longest married could at Old Settlers worship Sunday.
It all started the summer before Ann’s junior year at North Bend High School. Jay was a graduate of Schuyler High School and had served two years in the Navy. He was in North Bend riding around with a friend, Bert Merryweather, who was also a friend of Ann. Bert saw Ann walking on the street and offered her a ride. She said she wasn’t going far, but he insisted she jump in. She did, sitting between the two guys, for a one-block ride to her friend’s house. But the electricity was felt. “That was the beginning of it,” Jay said. “It just blossomed after that.” Ann’s friend’s brother has served in the Navy with Jay so she helped connect them. “It was love at first sight, I guess,” Ann said. Jay did not have a phone at his house, so he would show up at her house on a regular basis for a date. They got engaged Christmas of 1957, during her senior year and were married Sept. 12, 1959, at St. Charles Catholic Church. They lived in Fremont for a while before returning to North Bend in 1967. Their children, John, Julie and Jeff are all NBC graduates. Their third son, Jim, died as a teen. Jay worked at Hormel for 43.5 years, retiring in 2000. Ann worked at numerous jobs but mostly stayed home when her kids were young. She later worked in the insurance business for almost 30 years. They attribute the longevity of their marriage to love, “and we’re really good friends,” Jay said. “We do a lot of things together,” Ann said. After their grandchildren graduated from high school and children moved out of town, they moved to a townhouse in Fremont last October. “But North Bend is still home,” Ann said.
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