Their celebratory party may be postponed, but it’s well worth noting that today, May 27, Ray and Wanda Nielsen of Homewood are marking their 70th wedding anniversary. It’s a testament to their enduring love.
Their celebratory party may be postponed, but it’s well worth noting that today, May 27, Ray and Wanda Nielsen of Homewood are marking their 70th wedding anniversary. It’s a testament to their enduring love.
Ray grew up in Homewood. Wanda grew up in Harvey. They met at a dance hall in Blue Island. He remembers she was a very quiet person.
They dated a year before they married, but Ray was sure Wanda was the one for him. After their first date Ray told a buddy he was going to marry Wanda.
“We’ve had our ups and downs, that’s for sure,” Wanda said, but both say they know they have the right partner.
“Ray gave me a good life. We didn’t worry about money. We didn’t have a lot to spend, but we managed,” Wanda said. Ray’s words of advice to new grooms: “Answer ‘Yes, dear.’ It works.” He jokes that it’s done the trick for him.
On their wedding day he was 19 and she was 18.
“We were really young. Well, we made it,” Wanda said. Ray remembers people saying their marriage wouldn’t last six months!
On May 27, 1950, she wore a white wedding dress as she came down the aisle of the original First Presbyterian Church in Homewood. He was dressed in a tuxedo. Their wedding reception was in the American Legion Hall in Hazel Crest.
Ray started working at Illinois Bell when he graduated from Thornton Township High School. His salary was $33 a week. When the couple married, he had been working for the phone company for nearly two years, so he owned a car and had money in the bank.
Today that doesn’t sound like much of a salary, but in those early days it provided for them. Over time, Ray moved into management and took all his bonus money and bought AT&T stock. That’s their nest egg. He retired at 55. His second career was as a roofer, a trade he did for a number of years.
“Once in a while we had to borrow money, but that (person) was the first one I paid back,” Wanda stressed.
“One of the secrets (of a happy marriage): Don’t buy something until you’ve got the money to pay for it. And we always either knew we had the money or knew we had it coming,” Ray said.
They moved into a three-bedroom house on Olive Road in Homewood in 1960, their address of the past 60 years. It’s had a number of improvements and two additions. Wanda says it has suited them fine over the decades.
The couple had three children — Peggy Nielsen Riley of Flossmoor, Janice Nielsen Boyd of Homewood and their son, Michael Nielsen, who died in a car accident in 1980. The tragic death of a child hurt terribly.
“We were thankful Peggy was pregnant with her first child, and the baby came about a month later and that helped us a lot” Wanda remembers.
Ray coached Little League for years, and has been a member of the Danish-American Lodge since 1954 and taken on numerous leadership roles. The lodge has given them many friendships and they’ve routinely traveled with lodge members to conventions. The couple has enjoyed a few cruises and two trips to Denmark.
Wanda was the stay-at-home mom and disciplinarian. She considers herself “a by the rules” person and says her children didn’t get away with much.
Family is everything to the couple. Their daughters live close, as do their six grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.
“We love our family. I’m so happy when we’re together,” Wanda said. They will be delighted when the pandemic restrictions ease and they can return to taking their grandchildren to lunch, and that postponed anniversary celebration can happen.