A fair love story: The Spokane County Interstate Fair was their first date; 59 years later, they’re married and going strong

On Sept. 10, Karl and Tamy Wilkinson strolled through the Spokane County Interstate Fair holding hands.

Fifty-nine years ago, they went to the fair on their first date. Since then, they’ve attended together every year, except for the two years Karl was serving in Vietnam.

The pair met in 1966 while juniors at University High School. Karl and a couple of buddies who were friends of hers stopped by her house. They’d been selling booster buttons for a class fundraiser.

“I saw her at the top of the stairs,” Karl recalled. “I thought she was way out of my league.”

Though Tamy was chatting with her friends, she noticed Karl.

“I thought he was cute!”

As they were leaving, Karl stopped and said, “Would you like to go to the fair with me?”

She agreed.

“I spent all my money trying to get a stuffed animal for her,” Karl said. “I spent my $20 car payment and didn’t win her anything.”

Tamy remembers stopping at the handwriting analysis booth.

“They said they saw persistence in his handwriting. Boy! That was true!”

After a few more dates, Karl asked her to Homecoming. However, she’d already agreed to go with someone else.

That was that until the following summer when the fair approached. Karl asked her if she’d like to go.

Once again he spent all his cash, including his car payment, trying to win her a stuffed animal without success.

They dated off and on and went to many dances together, but Tamy declined to go steady.

One day, after not seeing her all weekend, Karl slipped her a note during class.

“I had five things to tell her,” he recalled. “Then I added No. 6: I love you.”

In the spring of 1967, he bought her a filigree pearl necklace and told her he didn’t want her to wear it until she agreed to be his girl.

Imagine his delight when she wore the necklace while speaking in front of the student body as part of the Lilac princess selection process.

His delight was short-lived. Tamy wore it because it went so perfectly with her dress.

“He already had a piece of my heart,” she said. “I’d never met anyone like him and still haven’t. He was so genuine and such a gentleman.”

But she didn’t want to go steady.

After graduation, they both attended Eastern Washington University. Karl was there to major in Tamy.

“I went to the orientation dance, and she was holding hands with another guy,” he said.

That was enough for him. He’d always wanted to serve in the military, and the Vietnam War was at its peak. In 1968, he enlisted in the Marine Corps.

Before he shipped out, he told a buddy he would break up with Tamy once and for all. When his friend asked how he planned to do it, Karl replied, “I’m going to call her and ask her to marry me.”

It worked. Three days later, he got a “Dear Karl” letter.

“I got to Vietnam and didn’t get killed right away, so I started writing to her,” he said.

Then she wrote to tell him she was pinned to a fraternity guy.

Karl served as a rifleman and later a radio operator with a search and destroy company. Both positions had high mortality rates. He was wounded twice and received a Purple Heart.

But even amid the horrors of war, he thought about the girl back home.

As his R&R in Hawaii approached, he sent a telegram to Tamy. Not wanting her to read too much into it, he sent an identical one to her roommate. It read, “I’m OK. The sun is shining. The best is yet to come.”

Strangely, the roommate never received the telegram. By then, Tamy had broken up with the fraternity guy, and Karl was on her mind. She began sending him long letters, which he eagerly read. He proposed by mail, and she agreed to meet him in Hawaii.

“I knew,” she said. “My heart was full, and I knew I was in love.”

He bought her a ring at the Base Exchange, and on May 16, 1969, they were engaged.

“Then I had to go back to Vietnam for six months,” Karl said. “But Tamy and I wrote every day. I have four three-ring binders filled with letters.”

Remembering the note he’d given her in high school, she signed all her letters with “#6.”

On July 25, 1970, they married.

They both finished school at Eastern, and Karl taught sixth grade for several years, but when six kids came along in 7½ years, he switched careers to real estate.

One year, as their anniversary approached and money was tight, he found a special way to mark the day. They live on a sprawling property in Otis Orchards, and he placed the number six on trees throughout the property. He even nailed one under the eaves of their home, so Tamy sees it every morning over breakfast.

As they reflected on 54 years of marriage, Karl said belonging to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has played an important role.

“I made my relationship with God my first priority, and it made our relationship so much better,” he said.

He still vividly recalls the first time he saw her when they were both 16.

“I looked into her eyes, and they were so pure.”

Tamy smiled at him.

“His love of life, love of people and his love for me are all so genuine.”

They each offered some advice for couples who aspire to enduring relationships.

“Marry the right person and remember why you married them,” Karl said.

Tamy added, “Be kind and celebrate everything together!”