USA: The love that kept them together

. LEXINGTON, Nebraska / Lexington Clipper-Herald / November 25, 2009 A secret wedding in Papillion, Neb. A $5 ring from Brodkey's in Omaha, Neb. A deaf judge performing the ceremony at the courthouse. Elderly and bored witnesses and a $2 marriage license. And then Gerald and Pearl Custer were pronounced man and wife. That was 75 years ago on Nov. 30, 1934. "But be assured everything was very legal," Gerald said, smiling in with his lips that reached his eyes. "And we were very generous with the judge. We have him $2." Afterwards the couple stayed at the Conant Hotel in Omaha, Neb. A form of honeymoon venture that set them back $20.09. "There was just one problem - the bathroom was down the hall," Gerald said. The couple sat down for a $4 wedding dinner at Dixons Caf and then onto Stars and All, a Paramount theater to catch the flick "The Gilded Lilly" starring Claudette Colbert. There was no color and no sound. "But a good show, I guess," Gerald said. The couple met inm Sunday School at the Evangelical Church in Harlan before they were even teenagers. Pearl even remembers Gerald's baptism when he was 12. Both agree it wasn't love at first sight, but the thought grew on each other. "I don't really know how it happened. It just gradually happened," Gerald said. "When we started, we went on dates. We were interested in each other. But I had four years of college and had so many things to do. Her dad died and her mother went to California and she almost went to California. I supposed I was lucky. We just weren't ready." "I guess so," Pearl said, laughing. "We always just did things together." They did things together usually on Wednesday and Saturday nights - sometimes Sundays. The rest of the time, they were working. They remember going for rides in the car, or going to shows in Harlan, Manilla or Denison. They dated for about six years and talked about marriage for about a year before they made the trip to Papillion - for the secret wedding. Kept secret from their families so Gerald could finish his college career at Drake University - which he was attending on a full ride athletic scholarship. During the Depression, it was the only way he could have afforded it. And Pearl, she was living with her sister. In May of 1935, the secret came out - but was doubted by their families. Pearl had to use her $5 ring from, "See the Brodkey brothers, and wear diamonds," to convince her new, skeptical relatives. Both families consented to the joy and so began their new adventures - together. Right out of college, Gerald had a job. He knew he had the job - even before the interview. "How I got hired - I was at Drake. Everything was so different. I an old Model T Ford I paid $25 for and went everyplace I could looking for a teaching or coaching job. They all paid around $90 a month. But I never got anyplace. Everywhere I went there was always two other guys there," Gerald said, emphasizing the words always and two. "Then I got a call one Saturday morning to go to the main office at Drake and the superintendant was there with his wife. He looked me all over and questioned me and said, 'Honey? Will you come in here and take a look at him?'" Pearl laughed at the memory. Also read: Custers observe 75th anniversary Click to view YouTube "He was a great big guy and she was probably five foot. She walked around me. Sized me all up. And she must have said OK because then he told me you'll have to come down Tuesday night and you'll get the job. But there'll be two other guys there ...'" He paused in the story. Smiling from ear to ear. Pearl, too. "'But don't worry about it. You'll get the job and make sure you bring her along.' I went there, and of course, I wasn't sweating it a bit. But the other guys were," Gerald said. "I remember that. I was there, too," Pearl said. Not only was Pearl there, but she had to be interviewed, too. A norm for those days. The deal worked out well for the newlyweds, though, as Gerald was offered not $90 a month, but $95 a month for his first industrial arts teaching job in Hillsboro, where the coupe bought their first house. But prior to the job, Gerald was forced to attend summer school to become proficient in the ways of industrial arts. The summer school led them to Cedar Falls. It was there they had an apartment they won't soon forget. The couple shared the fact they were unable to move onto the Cedar Falls campus because they were married and the school believed it would have disturbed other students residing there. "We looked bad, I guess, because we were married," Gerald said. "But there was nothing wrong with being married," Pearl reassured. The apartment they came to rent was right on College Avenue. The apartment was in such a disasterous state, Pearl remembers scrubbing it before they moved in. And it was their first night there that may have added some doubt into their choice. "I laid some bread out on the table for breakfast. In the morning, it was strung all from kitchen clear on into the bathroom," Pearl remembered. "Found it under the bathtub and there was big rat hole. And that's where the rat had come up and got my bread." "But we fixed that," Gerald said, Pearl adding that he put a piece of tin over the hole to prevent any more bread disappearances. After heading to Hillsboro after summer school, the couple purchased their first house. The first house had no heat, nothing fancy. The kitchen was one room with a gas stove - one burner leaked and was unusable, Pearl remembered. "There was no water. It was all outside. I had to go to the pump outside to get the water," she said. "But we had this little pantry and the house hadn't been used inm a while. So we paid $6 a month for our four room house. There was nothing in them, though." Pearl remembers walking almost daily to get groceries - but not all in the same place. "One grocery store was strictly for meat. I'd go down there and get what we needed. I'd buy like two grapefruit at a time or eggs, pork chops. I'd usually go about everyday because there was nothing else for me to do," Pearl said, matter-of-factly. Pearl also remembers washing clothes by hand and having to hang them up outside. It was there, she recalled, she had a nosy neighbor. "I'd have to hang our stuff up outside, including his underwear. This neighbor would come outside and say things like, 'Gee, he sure had a lot of socks this week,' or 'He sure had a lto of underwear this week,'" Pearl said, grimacing a little, but smiling after. "I'd just say, 'Yeah.'" Pearl and Gerald Custer with their family at their Woodbine home. The couple lived in a total of two apartments and four houses in the course of their 75 year marriage - the majority of that time spent at their current home for $4,000 in Woodbine. They moved in in 1944, Gerald working first as a teacher, and later with the current Harrison County Rural Electric Cooperative beginning in 1951 as a manager, retiring in 1978. Pearl spent her time raising their five children. Gerald and Pearl enjoyed the travelling which the REC provided, Gerald, of course, paying for Pearl's way. The couple would bring back a plate from the various places they visited. The plates hang on the wall in the kitchen of their home. They remained active throughout the years, both holding offices at the Woodbine Methodist Church and serving on the Golden Age Center Board. Pearl now even loves to read (Edgar Allen Poe being a childhood favorite author) and write cards and letters to friends and Gerald loves his television. Gerald even remembers heading over Wayne Foutch's to watch television he first moved to Woodbine as they didn't own one, but the children loved to watch The Lone Ranger on about a seven inch screen. "The kids like it. He'd crawl up a mountain and he looked about this big," Pearl said, indicated about a half an inch on her fingers. "Trying to watch that seven incher." The family has grown since the days of the Lone Ranger, though losing one of their children, they added nine grandchildren, 15 great grandchildren and one great-great grandchild. "We're five generations now," Pearl said. "With Savanah Mae." Gerald will be turning 97 Dec. 11, and Pearl, 96 in January, being 22 and 21 respectively upon the day of their marriage. Looking back on about 81 years of togetherness and 75 years of marriage, they claim that just being together was the best part, having a confidant in which to confide and loving each other. The $5 Brodkey's wedding ring passes on their love, recently worn by a granddaughter on a chain around her neck at her own wedding. "I don't think I could even get it on my finger anymore," Pearl said, but smiling at the thought. And proud. The single symbol of love - should be recognized for what it is and has meant. "It's just the love that kept us together," Gerald said, looking at Pearl, who was smiling back. [rc] Copyright © 2009 - Lexington Clipper-Herald