Lynn and Steve: The Bible verse that immediately comes to mind for both of us is Matthew 22: 37-39
37He said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.” 38This is the greatest and first commandment. 39And a second is like it: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” NRSV
Lynn and Steve: “Summing up fifty years of marriage in three words” is a serious challenge. (Stephanie, what were you thinking?!)
Steve: Laughter, passion and friendship.
Lynn and I have been friends forever and just depend on each other. Our passion for each other grows deeper and more inflamed every day. And somehow no matter what life brings us, a little laughter between ourselves or with our friends and family seem to make even the biggest problems a little smaller and certainly more manageable.
Lynn: Respect, compassion and intimacy.
I respect my precious husband for his infinite patience, intelligence, calm and reassuring manner, generous spirit, and his desire assist those in need.
In addition to the passion we share, we also feel compassion for one another and figuratively ‘lock arms’ when one or both of us experience the proverbial bumps in the road of this life. Steve’s optimism in difficult life situations is contagious, and when I feel low he never fails to find a way to boost my spirits.
People often equate the word ‘intimacy’ with sexual situations, and it certainly can refer to that. But in the last 50 years, Steve and I have also experienced the intimacy that comes from sharing small living spaces, preparing for the birth of four babies, seeing one another at our best—and worst, and true understanding, acceptance and compassion for one another.
Steve: Retirement after 39 years with Monarch was okay for the first year. I still met Lynn every day for lunch or made lunch for her at home. One time I even served lunch for her dressed in black silk long johns and a white shirt. She almost didn’t make it back to work. Retirement really turned spectacular when Lynn joined me. We obtained our little travel trailer and started our excursions where we found that the world is really very small. Like the time I was playing the guitar and two gentlemen approached and said we should have a jam session. It turned out that both were from Miamisburg and one of them was Andy’s neighbor. Or parking our trailer in a campground next to another trailer from Ohio and discovering our new neighbor was Amanda’s third grade teacher.
Lynn: Steve and I could never have imagined living such an idyllic life. This is not to say that we always see eye-to-eye on all issues or circumstances. In good times we’ve rejoiced and laughed. In sadder times we’ve cried and suffered hurt feelings. But the boundless love and friendship we feel for one another is unshakable and will never fail us. We have also been blessed to have good health in retirement! This has enabled us to travel the country in our little 22-foot trailer and see the breathtakingly beautiful sights God has gifted us all. We look forward to each trip with unbridled joy and excitement. God is good, all the time! All the time, God is good!
Steve: Thirteen Grandchildren. Who could have guessed? The Miamisburg School System really did teach our children how to multiply! Then there was the rush to beat the 2K barrier, three grandchildren and a wedding within four months in 1999. What a year!!!
Lynn: Steve was 49 and I was 47 in 1997 when we became grandparents of a darling baby granddaughter. We were overjoyed! In 1999 we were blessed with three more grandchildren—a granddaughter and two grandsons—within a four-month-period. In 2001, just prior to 9-11, another grandson was born. The following year the next grandson made his debut.
Our ‘second wave’ of grandchildren began arriving about five years later. By this time Steve and I were in our late fifties. Within four years we’d giddily embraced the arrival of a new granddaughter, grandson, then two more granddaughters! In November 2011 we welcomed two adult grandchildren into the fold! Our thirteenth grandchild, another precious grandson, was born in 2013. Steve and I had reached our mid-60s—and the heights of unbridled joy! We were ecstatic about having been so blessed to have a ‘baker’s dozen’ of grandchildren—and their parents—in our lives.
Steve: The term ‘empty nesters’ never quite seemed to apply to us. After the last of our children moved out of our house, there were always return visits; some short, some longer. And we were always trying to figure out how to stretch a three-day weekend into a four-day weekend to visit North Carolina or Pennsylvania or Florida. Those days were filled with long work days and gloriously intense weekends. The one thing that was always special to Lynn and I was that we almost always were able to meet for lunch during the week. It was amazing how that 45 minutes of time together refreshed and revitalized each of us.
Lynn: By the time the last of our children left home, Steve and I had long been involved in our respective jobs at Monarch Marking Products and Miami Township Police Department. We almost always met for lunch, which never failed to boost our day. We were both concerned that we hadn’t done a better job of fostering friendships over the years, and wondered what that would mean to us in our retirement. Around that time a shop named A Taste of Wine opened in downtown Miamisburg. Live music was often featured. During visits to this fun establishment we met former acquaintances and made new ones. Better still, my sister and brother-in-law returned to the area following a long absence. We were over the moon!! Today they are all dear friends, and we cherish the gift of each and every friendship. And we all still have a ball at our favorite venue!
Lynn and Steve: The most important lesson that we believe we imparted to our children was that the strength of a family is love. And that the basic core of family love is Mom and Dad’s romantic love. Instances like four little faces peering out of the upstairs window, watching Mom and Dad dancing on the back deck to making out in the car in the drive way just to get a little privacy. We did a lot of hugging and kissing while our family was growing and we still do—sometimes to our grandchildren’s dismay.
Lynn: Miamisburg was such a great place to raise a family! We were blessed to live close to both sets of our parents and other family members, who enriched our family’s lives immeasurably. Stephanie got to know and love her Great-grandmother Schultz, and all four children spent fun times with their Grandparents Zink. Many Sunday afternoons, Grandma and Grandpa Zink would come to the house to visit. What great memories!
Steve: Our house on North Eighth Street did not have air conditioning and neither did our automobiles. So window fans in the upstairs rooms were used to exhaust all of the hot air from the house. Hot summer evenings were often spent taking drives in the car using 4-60 air-conditioning (driving 60 MPH with all of the windows down). These usually included stops at the Dairy Queen. One year we were selected as Dairy Queen Family of the year and were awarded a large ice cream cake.
Lynn: Being a family of six, our vacation funds were limited. However, we did eventually manage to purchase a family-size tent and necessary camping equipment. This turned out to be one of the best things we could have done! Each year we would head to Cowan Lake State Park for a week in the great outdoors fishing, walking the trails and swimming. Occasionally we took longer camping trips with other family members. Thanks to Mom and Dad Schultz, our family also got to enjoy time at Lakeside, Ohio, where Steve and I had often vacationed with our families as youngsters.
Lynn: When Steve returned from Vietnam, we moved to Belton, Missouri, not far from Kansas City. We were a happy family! After discharge from the Air Force it was back to Miamisburg and a small apartment on Simonton Avenue. Steve and Stephanie were off to school—Wright State University for Steve, the Little Red Schoolhouse Daycare for Stephanie. I went to work for an optometrist in the Dayton Mall.
Steve: Within the next year Paul Arne was on the way and I started work for Monarch Marking systems. Lynn took on the awesome responsibilities that come with two children and moving into a rental home on Maple Avenue, then owned by Hazel and Harry Shell. Andy arrived next and Lynn and I decided we needed to invest in a home, so we purchased a ‘starter’ on North Eighth Street. There must have been some strange aura in that house because Amanda was conceived shortly after we moved in. We stayed in our starter home for 12 years.
Steve: Early in 1969 I received orders to Tuy Hoa (pronounced Tooee Waa) AFB in the Republic of Vietnam. I could have delayed those orders because of Lynn’s pregnancy. But I was advised by several older airmen that I should take those orders because Tuy Hoa was one of the safest AFBs in Vietnam. This was because the Korean Marines were embedded in the mountains that surrounded the base. So we opted for my safety over being home for the birth of our first child. Wouldn’t you know it, the Koreans were redeployed two months after I arrived in-country.
Lynn: My parents so graciously invited me back into their home when they learned that Steve was to go overseas. Our first child and daughter, Stephanie, was born six weeks later.
Steve: Thank God for Lynn’s and my parents watching over my family during this time. A couple of days after Stephanie’s birth, the Red Cross gave me a pink 8.5 X 11” form advising me that I had a daughter named Stephanie Lynn. It took me 6 hours to get a MARS (short wave radio) call to Miamisburg to talk to Mom Rajala. She let me know that Lynn was fine, and that Stephanie was 7 inches long and weighed 21 pounds, (reception on those calls was never very good.)
Lynn: We moved to Avondale, Arizona. We lived in a trailer home and loved it! Perhaps that’s why we’re now so happy on the road with our little travel trailer!
Steve: At Luke AFB I had fellow airmen that I knew from basic training and tech school but Lynn didn’t know anyone. It must have been a lonely time for her. But thankfully the honeymoon kept going and we were happy just to be together. In 1968 travel home from Arizona was not easily arranged. We did make it home for Christmas that year at which time we announced Lynn’s pregnancy to the family.
Steve & Lynn Schultz 