Love stories: 30 days stretch to 55 years

First impressions are important.

It was 1952, and John Topp, an 18-year-old Marine, had a double date planned for the evening. He was feeling fine when he and his friend pulled into a driveway to pick up his buddy’s date.

As the girl approached his baby blue Oldsmobile convertible, John slung his arm across the seat and said, “Hiya, Sweets.”

From their North Side dining room, Bette Topp rolled her eyes as she recalled that meeting.

“My first impression was ‘ugggh!’ ” she said with a grimace.

Though she wasn’t John’s date, they found themselves sitting next to each other during the movie. As they talked, they discovered they share the same birthday, but Bette is one year older.

“And he never lets me forget it,” she said with a laugh.

Three days later, when she returned from a beach party, she found John parked in front of her house.

“I wanted to see her again,” he said. “I was waiting for the love of my life.”

Bette got in the car, and they talked … and talked … and talked until her dad started flashing the porch lights on and off.

But that conversation was enough for Bette to overcome her first impression and fall in love.

John says he already knew she was the one for him.

And just 30 days after they had met, they were married.

John’s parents expressed dismay at the rapid marriage.

“My family was horrified,” he said. “I told my parents, ‘Thirty days is enough. I don’t need to know her longer.’ “

Bette’s father also was alarmed.

“For all we know, he could be a horse thief,” he said.

But Bette’s mother was smitten with John and said, “This is going to be all right. Don’t worry.”

The Topps will celebrate their 55th anniversary on Aug. 23, proving that mom really does know best.

The wedding was rushed because the Korean War was raging and John expected to be deployed at any moment. But, Bette said, grinning, “I think he was too chicken to have a big wedding.”

The two traveled from Encinitas, Calif., to Yuma City, Ariz., to marry because Arizona didn’t have a three-day waiting period.

The couple moved in with Bette’s parents briefly and then got their own apartment. Soon, John was deployed. But while he was aboard a ship headed for Korea, the war ended and he was sent to Japan instead.

“We spent only about eight months of our first year and a half of marriage together,” Bette said.

When John finished his enlistment, he found work as a salesman for various companies, finally settling on insurance.

The couple raised three sons in Southern California.

When John retired from the insurance business in 1981, the Topps were ready for a change.

“We were looking for four seasons,” John said.

After he had made nine trips to the Northwest, searching for property, the couple moved to 29 acres at Chattaroy to become “gentleman farmers.”

John also bought the Tobacco Square shop in NorthTown Mall. While the tobacco business thrived, the farming was not as successful.

Shrugging his shoulders, John said, “Farming was a lot more work than I thought.”

The Topps sold the property and moved into Spokane in 1986. John still goes to work at the tobacco shop each day, though his son and daughter-in-law run the business now.

The Topps admit they would be horrified if one of their sons married as quickly as they did, but they say they”re not sorry they “married in haste.”

They’re still in love 55 years after that first date.

According to Bette, “He still remembers the date and showers me with presents on July 23.”

The Topps credit mutual respect, everyday courtesy and commitment for the success of their relationship.

“The first time John yelled at me, I called my mom and said I was coming home,” Bette recalled. ” ‘Oh no, you’re not,’ ” her mom replied.

“It was a different time then,” Bette continued. “It was just understood that we would stay together.”

It took John and Bette Topp only 30 days to fall in love and get married, but they’ve had 55 years – and counting – to stay in love.