Couple Still Awhirl With Romance
Anita Longly was sweet 16 the night she hopped on the Nat Park carrousel and took a fated spin that would alter her life.
It was 1943 and each whirl on the merry-go-round cost a dime. But more than a stab at a gold ring, the girl wanted to check out the handsome teenager who ran the fabled Spokane amusement park’s most popular attraction.
Dale Maxwell was indeed a smooth operator. He gave his new admirer 16 free trips trying to get her to stick around until he finished work at midnight.
“I’d have let her ride 26 times to get her to stay,” he says today.
“My parents wanted me home by 9:30 p.m., so I had to leave,” counters Anita.
Those 16 magical rides were enough, however, to spark an enduring romance.
Anita invited the boy to a Sadie Hawkins wienie roast the next week. The North Central High School classmates were married two years later.
Saturday night, Dale and Anita Maxwell returned to the wooden horses to celebrate their 70th birthdays. Anita turned 70 in August. Dale arrives at that milestone next month.
In a private party with family and friends, the inseparable duo again rode the Nat Park carrousel, now the twirling crown jewel of Riverfront Park.
Anita always chooses the white “Bride’s horse” with a garland of flowers bordering the saddle. Dale favors the dark horse known as the “Black Knight.”
Commemorating such a long-lasting, genuine love affair is welcome news any time. But the Maxwells’ marriage is an especially blessed antidote to the current backbiting political climate.
Politicians blab on about family values. The Maxwells live them.
“They’re role models, an inspiration,” says oldest daughter Dayle Yates, who rented the carrousel and organized the party.
“No kidding. Even while I was growing up, I could see they always had something special that was just for them. They have such a good time together.”
They really do. Before the party, I dropped in on the Maxwells to find out how they defied the sky-high divorce statistics.
The couple owns a tidy apartment complex near Manito Park on the South Hill. Dale is a retired driver for Boge’s Bakery. Anita worked various jobs while raising three daughters and a son.
They are a charming pair: fit, youthful and upbeat.
There are no easy answers, they say, to explain the success of their marriage. Respecting each other’s individuality has always been rule one.
“Young people today always have to be right. They win the battles and lose the war,” says Anita. “We have different opinions and we give each other the right to have different opinions.”
Not a morning passes, says Dale, that they don’t hug and kiss. Or say those treasured words: “I love you.”
Not bad for a couple of crazy kids who got married at age 18.
It wasn’t easy. Anita says they had to get written permission from Dale’s father before the ceremony.
Dale may have been old enough to join the Navy, but back then men had to be 21 to marry. Women could marry at 18.
Plenty of skeptics didn’t think the two teens had a prayer of making a marriage work.
“But they were raised with the expectation of being responsible, of putting each other first,” explains daughter Dayle.
Today the Maxwells enjoy a relaxed life in a duplex adorned with several ceramic merry-go-rounds. They have eight grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
Trips to the carrousel are common.
Dale heads for the golf course as often as he can. The couple plays bridge with friends.
They travel a lot and have twice driven around the perimeter of the United States. That, they say, takes true devotion.
“If you can live together in a little bitty motor home for three months at a time,” says Anita, “that’s when you find out if you really love each other.”
Quite a partnership was formed that night on a carrousel so long ago, when two lovers each ended up with a gold ring.
, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo