Miss Catherine Janice Coe and Forrest Marion Austin were married October 23, 1938 in Madison County, Iowa. Miss Janice was still living with her parents, the Lewie Coe's and Forrest might have been living with his folks too, RB and Mattie Austin, all Madison County residents, until the wedding day. Forrest had just returned from living in Kansas City. He went to the big city when times were tough but found that his living expenses were as much as his salary (and him working two jobs, to boot) and when he got to his folks, he met the new neighbors . . .
New neighbors had moved in and they had a nice looking girl that had just graduated from high school. I hadn't given much thought to girls. I could hardly make a living for myself, but this one I couldn't resist.
"There she was, this pretty maiden,
Pure and sweet, and very fair.
So I wooed and Wooed and won her,
Filled her gentle heart with care."
Took about two months.
He liked what he saw . . .
So on October 22 on a Saturday, I took the afternoon off, picked up my Sweety and we went to Winterset and got a marriage license. Courthouses were open on Saturday them days. Sunday afternoon, we went to the Methodist Parsonage and got married. I couldn't have made a better choice. We took a boy and girl that we had been double-dating with along. The girl's mother made a big supper for us. Monday, I picked corn. I had to get it while it was there. I helped finish up for three or four other farmers. When corn picking was over, it was over. There wasn't any more work until Spring. I picked corn 'til up near Christmas and that's all we had to live on that first winter, but we made it.
So we hitched up in double harness and she pulled her share. Maybe more.
And after 59 years of marriage, Forrest had advice on how to stay married that long . . .
Well, after 59 years of marriage, I feel qualified to give out a few tips on how to keep peace in the family.
1. Stay out of her kitchen. You'll just make a mess she will have to clean up. That one is not hard for me to do.
2. Never watch baseball on TV with her. Well, you can watch but don't talk the game.
3. Never try to win an argument. Just say OK. You'll lose the argument but get the last word.
4. Never leave the stool seat up. I never knew why it was worse for her to let it down than it was for me to lift it up. But I learned to let it down. I also let the lid down. It looks better that way, anyhow. We never had that problem in the old outhouse.
5. Never, never put Channel Catfish in her sink and run water on them. Catfish can live a long time out of water.
Well, if these don't work for you, I take no responsibility for them. But after all, a long marriage boils down to the words of this old song:
"You've got to give a little, take a little,
Let your poor heart break a little,
That's the story of, that's the glory of love."
Anyhow, I'm glad I caught that "Fair Young Maiden." She was a keeper. And I've still got her. And I still love that Old Woman.
And I'm glad that he was , he did . . . and that he wrote it down and published it as a testiment to my mother.
Forrest's testiment taken from his article dated 10/30/1997 in his column the Good Ol' Days, as published in the "Afton Star Enterprise".
