Luther ’38 and Geneva ’40 Shetler celebrate 75th wedding anniversary

By Fred Steiner 

If a wedding anniversary cake is in order, it will have 75 candles.

Bluffton Maple Crest Senior Living Village’s oldest married couple, Luther and Geneva Shetler, celebrate their 75th wedding anniversary on Dec. 22.

It was on Dec. 22, 1940, Luther, then 23, and Geneva, 21, were married at the Eighth Street Mennonite Church, Goshen, Ind.

They met at Goshen College when Luther was a junior and Geneva a freshman. Luther recalls that he was aware of a beautiful blond girl on campus, but that he had no reason to be connected with her group of friends.

That changed when Luther and Geneva ended up in a required class together. The professor seated students alphabetically. That put Luther at one end and Geneva at the other end of a long row of last names that began with “S” (Geneva’s maiden name was Stamm).

When a new student arrived and the row was re-arranged, Geneva was seated beside Luther. He graciously offered to share a book with her since she did not have one.

Later, Luther convinced a friend to arrange a double date to a concert in South Bend that included Luther and Geneva. Luther had a car since he was a commuter from his family’s dairy farm, and he worked things out to drive to the concert, but to be in the back seat with Geneva on the way home.

Interestingly enough, Geneva accepted a goodnight kiss on that very first date! The next morning, friends of Luther knocked on Geneva’s dorm room door to “warn” her that Luther already had a girlfriend that he’d been dating for three years.

Geneva wasn’t worried about it – they were both young and had time to look around and decide – so, she went out on a second date with Luther. Pretty much, “that was that!”

The Shetler’s wedding day was a snowy one. Geneva’s mother encouraged the couple to spend their wedding night in Archbold, in Geneva’s childhood home.

Luther said, “No thanks,” and they headed toward their one-week honeymoon in Florida, with $100 cash. Along the way, they bought a good set of china for $30, and still came home with money.

Luther remembers that there were cabins available on their route for just a few dollars a night, and Geneva remembers all the orange juice you could drink for just one nickel.

Seventy-five years later, Luther and Geneva’s family includes five children, 14 grandchildren and 25 great grandchildren. They find it mind-boggling to think on all that these “next generations” are into, and all that they are doing to help humanity.

Perhaps the family clan might claim their successful lives are due to the faith foundation laid for them by Luther and Geneva, and from the marriage model they still have in Luther and Geneva.

Here are a few of the “keys” that have held Luther and Geneva happily together:

• In each move, a church was the first place that they sought out as a “base” in their lives.
• Luther recognized early on that in most situations a woman’s intuition for problem-solving was better than his.
• Geneva said that they constantly reminded themselves that they were “in this together,” and so made their decisions together.
• They determined to never carry a disagreement into the night, but to come to an understanding that day so that differences in opinions never grew into problems.

Today Luther and Geneva “hold onto each other” as they promised to do 75 years ago.

They said that they cannot imagine how they would live without the other after a lifetime together, but they entrust themselves into God’s hands.