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After 75 years, Frys recall their courtship, wedding
Looking back on a marriage that's lasted 75 years, it's strange to recall the times the romance almost didn't happen.
But for Noble and Edith (Nichols) Fry, married Aug. 13, 1941, that's part of the story -- a girl who was almost too young to date, a first date that nearly didn't happen, a house fire, a tardy minister and a heart condition.
To get the beginning of the story, you have to go back a few years earlier.
"We've known each other since 1938," Edith said recently. "He was a new boy at school."
Noble, 96, and Edith, 93, took a journey down memory lane recently while sitting in the sunroom of their Franklin Township farm house.
Noble's parents were renters who moved to the Bainbridge area in March of his senior year. Rather than finish out the year at Crawfordsville, he decided the earlier summer release of Bainbridge High School suited him.
"I had never dated because my mother and dad told me I had to wait until I was 16," Edith said.
As it happened, though, the Home Economics Club was planning a St. Patrick's Day dance.
"Everybody was talking about the new boy in school," Edith said. "A day or two before St. Patrick's Day he follwed me out to the bus and asked if I wanted to go."
Much to Edith's surprise, her parents said yes.
But when St. Patrick's Day came, another bit of trouble arose. Noble knew that the Nichols family lived south of Bainbridge and that they had electricity.
"(Electricty) was hit or miss in those days," Noble said, so he headed south, planning to follow the lines until he found the right house.
Then the power lines ended, with Noble still having not found the Nichols home.
"I drove for about a half hour or an hour," Noble said.
Eventually he asked for directions and later found out that Edith's family had a generator.
"It was a good hour late," Edith sia.d "I thought he wasn't going to show up."
Fortunately, the early mishap didn't put a damper on the evening.
"We hit it off to start and I never dated another boy in my life," Edith said.
The courtship continued, but Edith never met Noble's parents until the night of his graduation a couple of months later.
With the ceremony nearly over, someone came in and asked if Mr. Fry was present. When Noble's father stepped forward, he found out their house was on fire.
So young Edith accompanied the Frys to their home and remained on the scene until the fire was out, some time around 1 a.m. Going home so late, she feared her father's reaction.
"I was scared to death I'd never get to go on another date," Edith said. "But my dad said, 'That's OK. You're all right.'"
From there, the courtship continued, with Edith finishing high school while Noble found work.
He started out earning $2 a day on a crew building a new gym at Ladoga High School.
Noble was faithful to his boss, Mr. Cooper, and in turn, the boss was faithful to him.
"I made a hit with him," Noble said. "I put out more energy than I should've maybe. But I thought, 'You gave me a job and I'm going to prove my worth to you.'"
Mr. Cooper repaid his young worker, occasionally slipping an extra dollar or two into Noble's pay.
Eventually, Noble was able to go into business with one of his co-workers, with a first job of doing the sidewalks in Plainfield when U.S. 40 was paved.
"He was determined to work and wasn't afraid to work," Edith said. "That's the story of his life."
The hard work did not get in the way of his relationship with Edith and in August 1941, they were ready to get married.
Gathered at the Fillmore Christian Church, the couple and their guests were ready for the nuptials -- except that the minister had not arrived.
They waited and waited and finally decided to let Noble's best man, Rev. Earl Davis, perform the ceremony. That's when the minister arrived, about 10 minutes late.
Much like Noble's late arrival three years earlier, it was all a misunderstanding. Daylight Savings Time was new in those days, causing a misunderstanding of when the minister should be there.
"We were on one time and he was on the other," Edith said.
The bride wore her mother's dress, purchased from L.S. Ayres in Indianapolis back in the 1910s.
I still have the dress and I still have Noble's wedding suit," Edith said.
Other wedding traditions were also a bit different in the early '40s. Among the wedding gifts was a Jersey cow. And rather than jetting off to Cancun, the couple was happy to take a honeymoon in Bloomington.
All these years later, the memories are still sharp and the Frys continue to defy the odds. Noble learned he had a heart murmer shortly after they were married.
"The doctor said, 'When you get to be 40, you'll die.' Well, I'm more than twice that," Noble said.
There was also the 1987 tornado that picked their barn, carried it over the house and dropped it in the field across the road.
The mishap caused them to sell out of the dairy business, but they bought shorthorn cattle and, most importantly, survived.
They raised three children together -- Ralph, Barbara (Brown) and Phil -- and were also blessed with eight grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren.
They may not get around as quickly these days and they've both had their share of health problems, but they still live at home and Noble still drives.
Although they lost both Ralph and Barbara in 2013, there isn't a touch a bitterness in this sweet couple.
"We're still surviving and God only knows why we're still here," Edith said. "We've had our share of ups and downs and things that happened to us. We've trust in the Lord to lead us and try to do what's right.
"We realize we're down to the last days of our life and that all right. We're looking forward to that promised land."