Augsburgers celebrating 70th Valentine's Day

Authored by Jim Langham on Feb 13, 2012

It was 73 years ago when Paul Augsburger was invited on a "blind date" with Ivan Sprunger and Erline Steury. Ironically, the mystery girl of that night was to become his wife, Edith, three years later on Jan. 18, 1942. They were married in the Berne Evangelical Church (then Defenseless Mennonite Church, says Paul) by Rev. Noah Schmuker.
At the time, he was 21 and she was 20; Paul's brother, Justus (Bud) Augsburger served as the best man and Doris Moser was the maid of honor. Their intentions were to spend their honeymoon in Chicago but they were turned back by a snowstorm and ended up spending their first night together at a motel on U.S. 30 east of New Haven.
Paul noted that they had already made plans for the marriage and sent the announcements out when the announcement came on Dec. 7, 1941, that the Japanese had bombed Pearl Harbor.
"I knew that at some point I would have to serve," said Augsburger. "We already had everything planned so we decided to follow through with the wedding."
In October of 1942, Augsburger got the call to serve his country.
Augsburger described what happened from the time of the blind date until he and Edith made serious strides towards matrimony.
"It took two weeks before I asked her for another date," said Augsburger. "We continued on. She was a pretty good-looking gal. I started to think more about her."
Edith wasn't sure quite that soon. In fact, her first thought was, "I don't think I ever want to marry him.”
"The more I thought about it, there were things that I liked. He was good-looking; he was polite. He was a gentleman," Edith said. "At that time, men would open the door for the woman. He was that kind of a man."
Paul laughed when he described a Model-T he used to drive Edith around on their dates. He noted that his brother, Bud, and him worked for a farmer in the area.
"We didn't get our money for all of our work. We spotted that car in the barn and we asked him if he would give us the Model-T in kind for the rest of our money. He agreed so we had that car together. I used it to take her on dates," observed Augsburger.
Edith laughs when she looks back now to that first date with Sprunger and Steury.
"Yeah, they broke up and we stayed together," she said.
"Most of the time we went to her place. She taught me how to type," recalled Paul. "That was helpful to me when I went into the service."
Edith said that just prior to the marriage, she was asked to prove herself because Paul was concerned whether or not she could cook. In fact, there was a point where he invited her to come to his place for a couple of weeks so that his mother could teach her to cook. However, that question was settled on a Sunday afternoon when her folks were gone. She was in charge of cooking Sunday dinner for her two brothers and herself.
"I invited him to come over and eat with us. I think he realized then that I knew how to cook," said Edith.
Paul got a grin on his face and responded, "What I told her at the time was that I liked her cooking better than mother's."
After his induction in the military service, he served basic training for three months and was then transferred to Colorado. Military officials told him at that time that he could bring his wife out to the area during his service in that area.
"She was with me for 15 months at Colorado Springs," said Augsburger. "During that time, he worked on behalf of Camp Carson."
Eventually, he was transferred oversees for 20 months of service. He left for service and Edith's father drove out to Colorado to pick her up.
For the next 20 months, they communicated heavily through letters. Although her letters to him were unscathed, his letters were always inspected and censored for anything military officials didn't want Edith to read.
In late 1945, Augsburger was honorably discharged and Edith drove to Fort Wayne to pick him up. During the time her father had passed away and her mother and her had purchased the house at 205 Hoosier St. in Berne where the Augsburgers were to settle in and raise their eventual children, Paul Jr., Stan and John.
Over the core of their lives, Paul worked at Dunbar Furniture, International Harvester and then at Moser Motor Sales. He retired at Habegger Engineering in Fort Wayne where Edith's brother opened a business.
During that time, she was a homemaker and worked part-time, at first, at the Mennonite Book Concern. Eventually, she was employed for 30 years in the office of Dr. Robert Boze.
While they were enjoying the happiness of family life with their children, there were also physical challenges. Paul faced a series of eye surgeries and a five bypass heart surgery. In 1976, Edith was diagnosed with cancer, but prayer and treatments gave her a clear bill of health.
"Those times help you to grow. We did all that we could through those times of illness," said Edith.
When asked what the key has been to their 70 years of marriage, both simultaneously replied, "commitment."
"No matter what happens, you hang in there," she said. "There were times when we had our 'discussions' but we hung in there and talked things out."
"Every marriage is going to have its challenges to work out," Paul said. "You apologize and your forgive each other. Once you are married, you are always married.
"A big part is attending church together as a family and praying together. That is so important in keeping your commitment," added Augsburger.
When asked what advice he would give couples considering marriage today, Augsburger responded, "Be sure that you love each other. Take your commitment serious. Forgive each other and don't hold grudges."
"Remember that each day is a new day," added Edith. "When things haven't been so well, you always have a new start."
Paul noted that after 70 years, they still have their times when they like to tease each other and keep humor in their marriage.
"As long as we've been married, she still likes to pull things on me," Augsburger said with a smirk.
When asked about how they celebrate Valentine's Day, he replied, "It's not all that special just that day. We do a lot of things in between."
"Now wait a minute," she replied emphatically. "Last year you bought me a heart-shaped box of candy."
"Well, I guess I did," said Augsburger with a twinkle in his eye. "I guess maybe I got her some jewelry this year."

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