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PHOTOS BY SYLVIA ALLEN/YUMA SUNJERRY AND HAZEL MAHARRY ENJOY a relaxing day in their Yuma home. The couple met in a barn that housed the horses they rode to school in a small Iowa village. Once Jerry and Hazel became acquainted in high school, their relationship strengthened.Couple celebrating nearly 80 years of a relationship that began in a barnBY SYLVIA ALLENSPECIAL TO YUMA SUNAn unusually stable relationship actually began in a bam for one Yuma couple more than 75 years ago. They celebrated their golden wedding anniversary in July in Iowa, where they still have the family farm.Jerry Maharry, 96, and his wife Hazel, 93, recalled riding their horses to a rural Iowa high school in a town of 400 population. No bus transportation wasavailable back then. So they met each other in the bam, where their horses were housed during school hours.“In her freshman year of school she was 13; I was 15,” Jerry said. “On our first day of school, we rode our horses. She lived three miles east of town. I lived three and a half miles north of town. Our parents never knew one another. And it’s wintertime. It’s cold. Our parents had to rent a spot in a building to keep the horses.”“And then he said, ‘I’ll put your saddle on for you’,” Hazel chimed in. “He helped me, and so we were together that way.” “That was the beginning,” Jerry said. “That’s unheard of. I’ve thought about that. I rode a pony to a country school. We’ve got 30 great-grand-kids, and I am sure there isn’t one of them that at 6 or 7 years old (someone) would turn them loose on a horse in a rainstorm to go to school would they? I don’t know why.”Hazel recalled an earlier time when she drove her sister and herself in a buggy to school instead of riding horses. She remembered one incident on their way to school in which they were fortunate not to be hurt.“We met a big herd of cattle. They were going one way, and we were going the other way.” Then turning to Jerry, she said, “I don’t know if I’ve ever told you this before.” He replied, “I never heard this story.”“The horses shied when the cattle scared them,” she continued, “and they turned around to go home and upset our buggy. And, of course, we rolled out. We weren’t hurt. But the men that were there knew who we were, and they said, ‘We’ll get to your parents and tell them’.” The girls walked the quarter mile on to school. “We could really have been hurt. Of course, by then I was in the second or third grade, but that’s not very old to be driving a team of horses.”Once Jerry and Hazel became acquainted in high school, their relationship strengthened.“We kept dating year after year,” said Jerry. “Shedecided and said, T don’t want to get married until I am 18.’ So she turned 18 the 8th of July, and the 14th of July we were married. I wasn’t 21 yet.” In fact, one bit of advice Jerry suggests for young couples is “don’t wait too long to get married” because compromises are easier as you grow together.After a honeymoon in Estes Park, Colo., they devoted their lives to one another, to their family, and to their farm. As their family grew, they returned annually to Estes Park to spend time together.“And now our kids go, and that’s where they meet,” said Jerry. He said that two of their sons now own homes there so that they can ski in the winter.Raising their family on their farm proved to be a joy and a blessing, despite the hard labor that they had to endure without electricity until 1943.“All I wanted to do was to be a farmer— be in the livestock business,” said Jerry. “She helped on the farm all our life. We had three sons, and she raised them. We went through all their physical activities that they had during their lives.”As the Maharrys began raising a family, Hazel’s work was daunting. Not only did she help in the fields, but she also had to cook for the hired hands.“I had to stay at home because I had to work,” Hazel said. “I raised a garden and did all the laundry. He raised everything,” she said, referring to Jerry, who hastened to fill in the details.“I bought everything,” he said. “I was a buyer and seller. I scarcely raised any livestock. I bought hogs;I bought cattle; and I bought lambs. I’ve had a lot of lambs in my lifetime. And she helped all the time.We always had a hired hand to help at home. And there was a time when you cooked for them at home as time went along.” Laughing, he added, “It was a cardinal sin if she didn’t cook for them.”“I don’t know how many times that I’ve cooked for six for dinner and six again for supper,” Hazel said. “And that’s a lot of cookin’.”Being involved parentsSpending time with their boys in their activities has been an important part of their lives to solidify their bond to marriage and family. Jerry has advice for parents as to the importance of sharing time with their kids.“Attend all your children’s’ activities through grade school and high school,” he said, adding that he is really sold on athletics, unlike his father. “I will tell you a farmer’s story,” he said.“After my mother died, my dad lived with us for a number of years, and we kind of farmed together.SEE MELDED/E2HAZEL AND JERRY MAHARRY RIDE their bicycles every day to maintain maximum mobility. Their bicycles, resembling oversized tricycles with much stability, prevent accidental falls. “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.”On our first day of school, we rode our horses. She lived three miles east of town. I lived three and a half miles north of town. Our parents never knew one another. And it’s wintertime. It’s cold. Our parents had to rent a spot in a building to keep the horses.”— Jerry Maharry, on the day he met the woman who would be his wife
Newspaper Details
Yuma Sun
Yuma, Arizona, US
Sun, Feb 15, 2015
Page 62
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
USA 13 Jun 2020
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