Annette and Dale Hansen have been valentines since the 1950s. – Photo by Neal Griffin.

 

GRANTSBURG – On Thursday, Feb. 20, the senior center sponsored a slightly belated but still special event to celebrate the history of Valentine’s Day presented by Colleen Monfre, vice president of the Grantsburg Historical Society. Monfre takes a particular interest in Valentine’s Day because that’s the day she and her husband were married. She talked about some of the customs of Valentine’s Day dating back to the Middle Ages and through to modern times. Little did Monfre know that in the audience was a couple who recently celebrated 66 years of marriage and more than 70 Valentine’s Days together.

Dale Hansen and Annette Borup, born just two weeks apart, were high school classmates and dated all through their years at Grantsburg High, graduating with the Class of 1954. They kept dating until they were “finally” married on Jan. 10, 1959, at the Trinity Lutheran Church in Falun. Less than a year later, Dale was drafted into the Army and they spent the first two years of their marriage stationed at the West Point Military Academy along the Hudson River in upstate New York.  Annette remembered they made a few trips to New York City but not many because they were “living on Army pay.”

In October 1962 Hanson went to pick up his discharge papers, but was told he’d be staying a bit a longer by order of President Kennedy. The Russians were threatening to deploy nuclear weapons in America’s backyard and the world stood still in what is still considered to be the closest the superpowers ever came to nuclear war. The Cuban missile crisis was averted and the Hansen’s left the Army life and returned to the Midwest. They did some moving around between Wisconsin and Minnesota, eventually returning to where they spent their first Valentine’s Day together in Grantsburg.

Dale and Annette shared the secret of a long marriage is learning to get along with each other. They raised four children of their own and now have 12 grandchildren, 26 great-grandchildren and one great-great-grandchild who is 5 years old. When complimented on their remarkable story, Dale grinned saying, “And the story is still going.”