Ben and Helena Schmidt celebrated their 63rd wedding anniversary last week at the Bored Room Bistro in Midway with family and friends.
They were married in Greendale, which is now called Sardis.
They had five children, but Ben and Helena count the spouses as family and insist that they have 10. They enjoy 18 grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren.
Ben was an educator. He recalls his first job was in a one-room schoolhouse in Salmon Valley.
Ben worked for 34 years as a teacher and principal in Grand Forks. He was the principal at Hutton Elementary for 17 years. He also taught at Perley Elementary, known then as Grand Forks Elementary.
Helena and Ben now live in Parkview Manor in Midway.
They met in Grade 10. She was the cute girl in the desk in front of his. They kept in touch after graduation and started dating five years after graduation.
Ben proposed to Helena in a rowboat on Cultus Lake. When that story was told one of the family joked that the rowboat venue had been used so she couldn’t run away.