It was the early 1960’s and Mary lived in Madison, WI, sharing an apartment with two other girls, Katie and Donna. At the time one of her roommates, Katie, who was a former classmate, brought pictures of her family for her room. Looking over the pictures, Mary thought the brother just getting out of the Air Force, Denny, was pretty cute!

A little time passed and it turned out Denny and a couple of his friends had moved from Ashland to Milwaukee and, unbeknownst to Mary and Donna, Katie invited her brother and his friend Dean to come to Madison for the weekend. As Katie was leaving for work, she told Mary and Donna to expect company and to entertain them until it was time to pick Katie up from work. Well, Donna and Mary weren’t too happy with yet another one of Katie’s surprises as they already had plans for the night, but nevertheless, they agreed to stay home and wait for Katie’s brother and his friend to arrive.

When Mary answered the knock at the door, she remembered seeing the pointiest pair of shoes she ever saw on a guy! They belonged to Dean, Denny’s friend, and Denny was right behind him. Mary doesn’t remember how long they had to entertain the guys, but it was finally time to leave to pick up Katie. As the group piled into the car with the guys in the front and the girls in the back, Mary remembers saying “hey you” to get the driver’s (Denny’s) attention to give directions. She couldn’t remember his name right then. Denny liked to continue to bring that up after they knew each other better!
It may not be considered a first date, but it was the cheeky start of what became their enduring love story, now spanning over 60 years together.