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Peabody couple celebrates 70 years years ago

By ROWENA PLETT

Staff write

Imagine living together with the same person for 70 years!

John and Elda Mellott of Peabody will have reached that unique landmark Saturday. They are a testament to "old-fashioned" values which include mating for life.

John, 91, and Elda, 88, don't claim to know why they have had such a long life together. John called it "good luck."

"It doesn't seem like it's been that long," said Elda.

They met on a blind date as teen-agers and knew each other for more than four years before they decided to tie the knot.

He was from Peabody and she, Elda Schmidt, was from the Goessel area.

Coincidentally, several years prior to their marriage, they both got jobs working for a farm couple by the name of Jones near Moundridge. They were given room and board and earned about $40 a month altogether.

The Joneses went to Florida for the winter and left John and Elda to care for the house and livestock. Elda's grandmother came to live with them to make sure no hanky-panky went on between the two.

Then they decided to get married. He was 21, and she was 18. They were married April 7, 1937, at the Evangelical United Brethren Church in Newton.

Their wedding day brought typical early April weather. It was a nice, sunny day but by the next morning a cold front and blizzard had blown in, piling the snow in high drifts.

Their honeymoon was an overnight stay at a cousin's house, and John was up early the next morning to tend to the Joneses' cattle, sheep, and hogs.

The couple continued to work for the Joneses for a few years, then rented a farm of their own south of Peabody. They received machinery and a couple of horses from John's parents and a cow from Elda's parents.

John recalled that gasoline was 11 or 12 cents a gallon at the time. For two or three years he got free gas from oil wells on the property, to fuel his Model A Ford car.

They moved around to different farms throughout the years, ending up on a farm 10 miles south of Hillsboro.

During World War II, John worked at Beech Aircraft in Wichita. He later spent four winters working at a flour mill in Newton.

Anecdotes from a farmer's wife

Besides having a large garden and raising most of their food, Elda also assisted her husband with the farming, such as hauling grain to the elevator using a tractor and trailer.

She had some exciting experiences, to say the least.

One time, when she got to the field, her husband asked, "Where's the trailer?"

It had become unhitched along the way and she hadn't noticed. They found it parked in a ditch.

Another time, the trailer, carrying a tank of fuel, became unhitched at a railroad crossing. By alternately turning the wheels on the trailer, she was able to get it off the tracks before the train came.

Another time, when she was pulling a disc to the field, John had told her to stay to the side of the road to keep the individual discs from scraping on the gravel. She got too close to the end of a culvert and turned the tractor on its side.

The tractor's umbrella allowed her to stay in the seat until neighbors who saw the mishap came to the rescue. They used another tractor to pull it upright. She then went on to the field, and her husband didn't know until later what had happened.

1971, year of the tornado

On Memorial Day weekend in 1971, a tornado destroyed their farm and damaged the house beyond repair. They had been returning home when they saw the tornado approaching and took refuge in an underground shelter a half mile away.

When they returned to their home, they found the kitchen table set as it had been when they left, including a bowl full of gravy, but the linoleum had been ripped off the floor and thrown in a pile. A new machine shed was blown away.

They lived in a small trailer on the farm for a few months, but a strong wind in July blew it over.

That year, they purchased the home they live in now, one-half mile west of Peabody on U.S.-50. John already had been renting the 200-acre farm.

By then, their three children were grown and on their own.

John continued to operate his farm until a year ago, when he rented it to his nephew, Delbert Mellott.

However, that doesn't mean he quit farming. Now he assists Delbert with the farming, including the 240 acres Delbert owns.

"It seems that I work more now than when I was farming on my own," John said jokingly.

He noted he never had a cab on his tractor, but now that he operates Delbert's tractor, which has an air-conditioned cab, he can work a 10-12 hour day without much fatigue.

The Mellotts have had their share of adversity and struggles on the farm, but they feel that life has been good to them.

"I can't complain," Elda said. "We have never had any real hard times or bad sickness."

They lost a set of twins in the early years of their marriage but had three more children.

The oldest, Joan, is married to Jerry Jost. They live in Hillsboro. Son Richard and his wife, Vickie, live on the home place south of Hillsboro. The youngest daughter, Esther, and her husband, Jon Brooks, live in Peabody.

The Mellotts' first grandchild was born on their 25th anniversary. They celebrated their 50th anniversary by taking the whole family to Branson, Mo.

"We couldn't afford that now," John noted.

The couple were involved in bowling for many years. Their teams went to several state tournaments. One year, John's team won the tournament.

Although they've both undergone surgeries, John and Elda are in relatively good health. They eat dinner every day in Peabody. Elda said the people in Peabody always are so helpful when they come to town.

John is an elder in Peabody Christian Church. Using a backhoe, he has been the grave digger at Prairie Lawn Cemetery for more than 40 years.

Esther said the family encouraged her father to quit farming when he passed retirement age.

"He told us if he quit farming, he would die, and he wasn't ready to die yet," she said.

Apparently, he still isn't ready to die. He plans to stay active in farming as long as he possibly can. And Elda hopes to be there at his side.

An open house is planned for the couple April 15 at Peabody Senior Center. The whole family — including three children and their spouses, nine grandchildren and spouses, and 23 great-grandchildren — are planning to be there to help them celebrate their long, fruitful life together.

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