Lasting love - Richard and Betty McElhaney

By: 
Bethany Carson

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Richard and Betty McElhaney have been married for 64 years and will celebrate their 65th anniversary on April 5.
     Richard is originally from Clarksville. He was 21 years old and working at Rath Packing Company in Waterloo when he met Betty’s brother, who introduced the couple. Betty was 19 and a senior at Maynard high school. Their first date was to see the Maynard girls’ basketball team play at a tournament in Waverly.
     “She was nice and I liked her, but I was working at Rath, and she was a high school girl,” Richard McElhaney said.
     Two years later though, they were married at the Lutheran church in Maynard. The couple had a reception at Betty’s parents’ home, and afterward, the wedding party enjoyed chicken at a restaurant in Oelwein. They still have one wedding gift, a painting of the Lord’s Supper, hanging over their sofa.
 
Read more in the February 15 edition of the STAR.

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