Love Story: It’s a gradeschool kind of love for Dick and Nancy Smith

Dick and Nancy Smith met in Longview, Washington, in 1955 when he was in fourth grade and she was in third.

Ten years later, they married.

When Dick and his family moved to Longview they looked for a church to join.

“Nancy’s parents were the first ones to come to our home and welcome our family to the church,” he recalled. “But it wasn’t until I was 16 that we really took notice of each other.”

Actually, Nancy noticed him sooner.

“I thought he was really cute, but he wasn’t interested in girls – he was into baseball.”

She lived in the neighboring town of Kelso, so they attended different schools. But one afternoon, Nancy and her cousin decided to swim at the pool in the high school in Longview.

Dick and a friend were swimming, too. That’s when he finally really noticed her.

“I was attracted to blondes with blue eyes and glass, and she was vivacious,” he said.

He’d just received his driver’s license, so he offered to take everyone home in his dad’s red ’56 Ford Fairlane.

“I called my parents, and they said it was OK,” Nancy, then 15, said.

She and Dick ended up in the front seat together, and he took his buddy and her cousin home first.

“Then we went back to the high school, and he let me drive the car in the parking lot,” she said.

Dick smiled at the memory.

“She did very well. I had fun being the teacher.”

That was May 6, 1961, and every year they celebrate the anniversary of their first date.

“At the time, she was everything I wanted to be, but didn’t do the work,” Dick said. “She was in the student government and much higher than me in the Honor Society.”

He was more interested in being silly.

“He was kind of a pill – always doing stuff to get attention,” recalled Nancy. “Once he wasn’t around other people, he was quieter, and I found out he was really smart!”

As their relationship developed, Dick grew more confident.

“I didn’t want to be the clown,” he said. “I wanted to be the mature person I’d masked. She brought out the best in me.”

In August 1964, he proposed at a beach on the Columbia River, and Nancy immediately said yes.

They married a year later on Aug. 7, 1965, in the church their families still attended. She was 19 and he, 20.

Education is extremely important to both of them, and they both earned associate’s degrees from Lower Columbia College.

In 1966, Dick received notice that he’d be drafted, so he chose to enlist in the Air Force. He served 3½ years on bases in Texas and Colorado. Nancy joined him, and in 1968, they welcomed their son, Todd.

They returned to Longview in 1970, and the following year moved to Walla Walla, where Dick enrolled at Whitman College. He worked full-time, so Nancy could stay home with their family, which had grown to include Nathan, born in 1972.

After Dick graduated, they returned to Longview, where he served as a youth pastor in the church they’d grown up in. The church offered to pay half of his tuition for a graduate degree if he worked there for one year. After the year was completed, the family moved to Blaine, Washington, so he could attend Regent College in Vancouver, British Columbia.

“Our backyard was the international border,” he recalled.

When he received his diploma, the family returned to Longview, where Dick served as assistant pastor in their church for four years before pursuing a career in healthcare administration. Along the way, he earned an MBA from City University of Seattle.

Nancy began working outside the home when Nathan was in middle school. In part, to help save money for their sons’ education.

“We didn’t want them to struggle and have to work as hard as we did,” she explained.

Over the years, work took them to Moses Lake and Ellensburg. After retirement, they chose to move to Spokane in 2015, where their younger son lives with his family.

As they reflected on 60 years of marriage, Nancy, 79, said she’s thankful that Dick encouraged her to try new things.

“I’d had a very sheltered life – I’d never lived anyplace else until we got married,” she said. “He’s pushed me to be more adventurous.”

Now, she’s been to all 50 states and traveled overseas, as well.

When asked what it takes to have a lasting marriage, Nancy smiled.

“Patience and humor really help,” she said. “And remembering to say thank you for the little things you do for each other. There have been hard times, perhaps because we married so young – but now this is our reward.”

Dick, 80, nodded and looked at his wife.

“My eyes still light up when she comes into the room.”

Contact Cindy Hval at dchval@juno.com.