Donahues

married in 1934

By KURT NESBITT

Journal Staff Writer

NEW ULM -- In an era where divorce rates are high, there aren't many people who can say they've been married as long as Gert and Melvin Donahue.

The Donahues celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary with children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren and one great-great-grandchild this past weekend.

Together, they've outlived the Great Depression, cancer, several odd jobs and raising nine children.

"I think you just go one day at a time," said Gert, when asked if there's a secret to staying married for 70 years.

The Donahues come from seemingly slight beginnings. Gert and Melvin grew up on farms near Currie, which is in central Murray County about halfway in between Slayton and Tracy.

They met while they were going to school at the Immaculate Heart of Mary School in Currie and knew each other because their oldest siblings used to date.

The Donahues were married on Nov. 19, 1934, at the Immaculate Heart of Mary Church in Currie. The actual wedding ceremony was cancelled because Melvin's sister had scarlet fever, which forced the family doctor to post a quarantine sign on Melvin's house.

And even though the wedding was technically cancelled, Gert and Melvin got married anyway.

Their honeymoon to Mankato brought them through New Ulm. In those days, the Silver Latch Inn, which is located where Guten Tag House is today, was also the Greyhound bus stop. Gert and Melvin stopped to eat there. They spent the night in the Grand Hotel after Gert asked the bus driver if their ticket would still be good the next day.

They returned to New Ulm 22 years later after they decided to pick up stakes and leave Currie. As farmers, they raised corn, flax, oats, rye, potatoes and pigs on 640 acres that Melvin's father owned. Much of it was lost during the Depression.

They decided to sell the farm after watching the struggles that Melvin's parents experienced and decided they didn't want to go through the same thing.

"There was also nothing to stay at home for," Gert added.

They bought a brand new house at 823 N. Payne St. in 1956 and have lived there ever since. Six of their nine children were still living at home at the time. Gert said they decided to move to New Ulm because they wanted to put their children into Catholic schools.

Living in New Ulm was an adjustment for the older kids, Gert said.

After the move, Melvin worked several different jobs, including a route delivering milk, then a job in the local creamery and then a garbage route that he retired from after 15 years. Gert took care of the children, baked, canned, tended the family garden and sewed. She remembers sewing three wedding dresses and 23 bridesmaids dresses.

Gert and Melvin have osteoarthritis and Gert's is so bad that she can no longer walk. Melvin has also undergone two chemotherapies for lung cancer, which appears to have gone away, Gert said.

Fifty years after their marriage, they finally had a wedding cake and a wedding dinner when they celebrated their anniversary in 1984. They celebrated their 70th anniversary with a private mass at the Cathedral of the Holy Trinity on Sunday and a luncheon afterwards. A total of 78 family members attended the mass.

"God has been good to our family," said their eldest daughter Myrna, who lives in New Ulm.

"He always said he was going to be around forever," Gert smiles, looking across the kitchen table at Melvin. "I'm beginning to think he's right."

The Donahues recently received a note from President Bush, congratulating them on their many years of marriage but Gert has some doubt about the authenticity of the signature.

"If he signs all his documents like that, how do they know who did it?," she asks.