February 2021
Long-lasting love
Guegels share more than 69 years of marriage Robin Fish/Enterprise Bill and Ginny Guegel look forward to celebrating their 69-3/4 anniversary with family this summer. Waiting until their 70th may be tough, since travel is challenging at the time of year they were married – Dec. 21, 1951.
By Robin Fish rfish@parkrapidsenterprise.com
A
fter what he described as a “whirlwind courtship,” lasting only about four months, Bill Guegel drove over to where Virginia Franks was living in St. Paul and told her, “Let’s get married tomorrow night.” So, they did. On Dec. 21, 1951, a couple of their friends went with them to Robbinsdale and witnessed their marriage before a justice of the peace. For a decision made so quickly, it has had long-lasting consequences. More than 69 years later, Bill and Ginny (as she is known to friends) are still married, living at the Summerfield Place Apartments in Park Rapids. They have four children, five grandchildren and five great-grandkids.
Making the connection
Both Bill and Ginny grew up in the Park Rapids area. An only child, Bill moved to
the area from St. Paul when he was 8 years old. For many years, his parents managed resorts on Lower Bottle Lake – first Hoosier Beach, and later moving to Home Bay Camp. His mother lived to be 100 years old. Meanwhile, Ginny was one of five sisters who grew up on a farm three miles south and one mile west of Park Rapids. Two of her younger sisters, LaMae James and Beverly Pearson, are also still living. They both went to Park Rapids High School, but they didn’t get together then; Ginny was a couple years older, graduating in 1943 while Bill finished in ‘47. Before they met, Bill worked as a fishing guide out of Fuller’s Tackle Shop in downtown Park Rapids, making $4 or $5 a day taking tourists fishing. “About four or five resorts would call me up, and I’d take them fishing,” he said. “At that time, most of these people didn’t have anything to fish with, maybe a rod. Of course, I had to
furnish an outboard motor and a boat and stuff like that.” About the time they met, in September 1951, he was getting ready to move back to St. Paul for a temporary job at a bakery run by some of his cousins, and she was doing office work in the part of St. Paul where, Bill said, “the big shots lived.” They met at a dance hall called Dodge Inn, about two miles outside Park Rapids. Asked what attracted him to Ginny, Bill said, “She was a good dancer.” Ginny doesn’t recall being swept off her feet. Asked what she thought upon meeting Bill, she said, “No fuss. No big deal.” Nevertheless, they started seeing each other regularly, right up to a week before Bill popped the question. From “let’s get married tomorrow” to nearly 70 years together – that was quite a decision. “A big one!” Ginny agreed. “I’d do it again. Yeah.”
LOVE: Page 8
Inside this issue... 2 Making gratitude a habit 3 A new year of blooms 4 Do I need to sign-up for Medicare if I’m still working? 6 Social Security Administration’s ‘zero tolerance’ for fraud