SILVER WATER – Nearly 40 vehicles bearing family and friends took part in a drive-by parade held recently on Highway 540 just outside of Silver Water to bade best wishes to Doug and Jane Wismer on the occasion of their 50th wedding anniversary.
The parade included well wishers in cars, trucks, vans and even local township fire department trucks, with plenty of waving, cheering and wishing the couple their best.
“Where has the time gone?” Mr. Wismer pondered, when asked what his thoughts were on attaining 50 years of marriage.
Ms. Wismer noted she finds it has incredible that it has been 20 years since she retired as a school teacher.
“The only bad thing is that our kids and grandparents can’t get here (with the pandemic) but maybe by the end of this summer they will be able to come here or we can visit them,” said Mr. Wismer.
Organizers of the celebration had put two chairs out at the corner of their driveway so that they could sit and watch the well wishers going by—a 50th anniversary sign banner was also set up behind the Wismers. Interestingly, a 50th anniversary placard, “was used at my parents my parents 50th anniversary,” recalled Ms. Wismer. “This year would have been their 75th wedding anniversary. I’m going to pass this sign on to my youngest sister.”
Ms. Wismer quipped that when she and her husband were younger, “you would always hear people say that someone who was 50 or had a 50th wedding anniversary was old.”
The couple answered the question as to why they got married during the month of March back in 1971. “It was winter break, so I had time off from teaching,” said Ms. Wismer. Mr. Wismer, a long-time farmer added, “and calving wasn’t going to take place for another month, so we both had time off.”
