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MELDEDFROM PAGE E1Here it was the middle of June. Our three boys were going to play baseball.My dad did not believe in athletics, He thought that I should be home at work. And Hazel and I were out in the field putting up hay. Come 2:30 in the afternoon, it was cloudy. We had hay, and we were busy, busy, And we shut everything off,” he said with a chuckle, recalling the event, “And my dad says, ‘Well, what are you doing?’ I said, ‘We’re going to a ball game.’ And he got really upset that we were going to quit.”“There was a cloud coming,” Hazel explained.“And Hazel turned on him,” Jerry continued. “‘Grandpa, the most important thing we are raising at this time is three sons, and everything they go to, we are going to.’ He never said a word. And from then on, he went to every activity, and we did that through all their years.”“He never realized what it did for those boys,” Hazel said. “And if they got into trouble - and they did - we knew it, and we were right there.”Pedaling merrily along“Now our kids are going to their kids’ activities just like we did,” Jerry said, “and they take them onV7Kamil^rrrbo.dbrafiGfDr. Alex Freeman, DMDBraces • InOisalign * Implants Restoration • CroWns Veneers • Root Canal Therapy * Teeth Extraction Periodontal Treatment • White Fillings • Bridges DenturesSame m ‘I f \ Exam, X-Rays J \ y Basic CleaningNew Patients Only* Limited time offer. Cannot be used with insurance. Must presen t ad at appoin tmen t2270 S. RidgeOieW bride, #204 \/uma, AZ 8536 bFind us onFacebookNo Insurance? No Problem...20°Jo OFFDental Services for Newt Patient*iPod touchwith start of bracesu/WW. A (exFreemanbMb. comMost PRO Insurances Accepted Trax, Military United Concordia WelcomeFREESecondaOpinionavacations just like we did.” The Maharrys still attend their great grandkids’ games when they return to Iowa. Jerry said that they used to attend college ball games, too, but because they don’t walk so well nowadays, they don’t do so much of that, “Those stadium seats are a fright to get up to anymore,” he said.Sitting in lawn chairs, they still attend Arizona Western College baseball games from time to time. Despite the loss of some of their mobility, they daily ride their bicycles around Araby Acres, where they reside in a mobile home during the winter months,“At 96,” Jerry says of his age, “our kids think we shouldn’t be driving a car that far.” He explained that their sons haul the bikes back to Iowa so that the Maharrys can ride them there.“And because we ride bicycles,” Hazel added, “and we’ve met so many nice people. Everybody in this park knows at least our first names, and theyholler at us as we go by,”Their bicycles, resembling oversized tricycles with much stability, prevent accidental falls, which is especially important to Hazel who has two artificial shoulders,“We go biking about three or four o’clock in the afternoon,” Jerry said, “One or the other of us will say, ‘Aw, let’s not.’ But one will push the other, and we’ll finally get out there, and I’m glad we do,” He says that they are lucky to have maintained their health, which he attributes largely to their mobility.Caring for other kids, tooMobility enables them to pursue voluntary and charitable interests, too - much of it with the Crossroads Mission, which they have helped for the last 30 years as Yuma winter residents.“A year ago about now, somebody found out that we were going to celebrate our 75th wedding anniversary,” Jerry said. “So they threw a party here for us, and they wanted to give gifts. We said, ‘We don’t need gifts, Why don’t yougive the money to the charity of Jerry’s and Hazel’s choice, which is homeless children?’ They gave us $1,800.”Jerry said that he likes helping the homeless children, whose parent(s) may be attending a program to get off substance abuse.“I could spend hours down there,” Jerry said. “They like to talk. It’s kind of a tough situation if you’ve been on drugs and are trying to get off of them.” The money allows these youngsters to participate in activities about once a month that other children often take for granted.The ties that bindIn their absence from Iowa, the Maharrys - ready to quit farming - have turned the farm management over to a man whom they knew they could trust, They sealed the arrangement “with the shake of a hand,” Jerry said.He and Hazel agree that this kind of trust bonds marriages, too. “A lot of people divide their finances,” he says. “Ours ismFMjiff cmmnoNim mumAlways On fime~.Gr You Don't Pay A Dime!®Servicing the Greater Yuma Area928-7834242www.onehouryuma.comAt One Hour Air Conditioning Heating® We Offer the Following Services:• System Repair, Service ReplacementIt II Iall together.”Togetherness is not without disagreements, of course. One thing they have resolved never to do though is to go to bed angry with one another, and Hazel said that this is part of the advice she would give couples nowadays.She said she would also tell young couples, “Don’t be too quick to dissolve your marriage, You found something in her at one time or another, There is surely a little bit left.”“We get mad at one another and say, ‘I would do it this way. No, I would do it this way,”’ Hazel said, to which Jerry with a hearty laugh retorted, “If she weren’t so headstrong, we wouldn’t have any of these arguments.” Hazel laughed and replied, “If you weren’t so stubborn, we wouldn’t have any,” Then on a more serious note, she added, “Every couple has those kinds of arguments, but they have to think enough of one another.”She recalled another time when she became angry with Jerry, although neither of them can recall why.“I remember I walked around the block,” Hazel said, “and when I came back, I gave him a big hug, and that was it.” Jerry added, “And now, we are even closer than ever.”Consideration for one another and for their family, they say, is the love that glues them together—all 60 of them in their extended family, which includes great-great grandchildren.“Last year on July 4 -and this will never happen again - they had a party for us,” Jerry said. “And all the kids, grandkids, and great grandkids - 59 out of 60 - were there in Deerfield, Iowa. So they came from quite a ways to do that.”Balloon Flights
Newspaper Details
Yuma Sun
Yuma, Arizona, US
Sun, Feb 15, 2015
Page 63
Full Page
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USA 12 Jun 2020
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