The Summer of ’74 was a memorable time for four couples at the First Christian Church in Great Bend. That summer, four couples tied the knot, so this summer, they are all celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary.
Siblings Lane Moore and Leesa Butler are third generation members of Great Bend’s First Christian Church. Vicki Sheets joined the church when her family moved to Great Bend in the early 1970’s. Her fiancé John started attending during their courtship. The most recent addition of the four to the church were Clayton and Debbie Noffsinger who started attending First Christian when they moved to Great Bend in 1988.
Lane and Leesa kept their parents busy with weddings held six days apart. Lane married LaDonna on Saturday afternoon, Aug. 10, 1974 at LaDonna’s home church, The First Baptist Church in El Dorado, Kansas. Lane and LaDonna were both students at the time. After a short residency in Topeka, the couple moved to Great Bend where Lane went to work for the family business and LaDonna found employment with an engineering firm.
The Friday following the Moore wedding, August 16, 1974, Leesa married Roger Butler at her home church, First Christian Church in Great Bend. Both Roger and Leesa were students at Fort Hays State University at the time. They had planned their wedding for the following week, but realized classes were about to start, so moved their ceremony up a week.
The day following the Butler/Moore wedding (August 17, 1974) The First Christian Church played host to John and Vicki Sheets’ wedding. These high school sweethearts had to get permission from John’s parents as he was just 17 years old at the time.
Clayton and Debbie Noffsinger were the first of the four couples to be married. They wed at Debbie’s parent’s house in Hays on June 29, 1974. Both graduated from separate high schools in Hays. After their wedding, the Noffsingers lived in several rural areas of Russell and Ellis County before moving to Great Bend.
All four couples said their weddings were modest to simple for the mid 70s. There were no cross country trips for their honeymoons.
Lane & LaDonna spent a few days in Kansas City, including time at Worlds of Fun and a Kansas City Royals game. Their biggest honeymoon challenge was the hotel they booked did not have record of their reservation when they arrived. The hotel took care of them and put them in the State Suite for one night.
The Moores had to hurry home, for sister Leesa’s wedding the following Friday at First Christian Church in Great Bend. Roger and Leesa were avid campers so they planned a camping trip in Colorado. To the point they spent their honeymoon nights sleeping on the ground at campsites. During their honeymoon they rode their motorcycles (dirt bikes) up Pikes Peak.
John & Vicki had a weekend honeymoon in Hays following their wedding. While the weather was good for their wedding, the trip to Hays was a challenge driving through severe thunderstorms and tornado warnings. After the weekend, the newlyweds returned to Great Bend to go to work.
Clayton & Debbie had to deal with air conditioner issues in their car as they traveled across Western Kansas on their way to Colorado. They spent their honeymoon touring the Garden of the Gods and other attractions around Colorado Springs.
50 years later all four couples continue to be active in First Christian Church and in the Great Bend community. Only six of every 100 marriages in America (U.S. Census Bureau information) lasts for 50 years.
The Church’s Senior Pastor Josh Leu said “In a congregation our size, it’s amazing to think these 4 couples all married in the same summer and are able to celebrate 50 years together. To think they’ve been married, longer than I’ve been alive. All four couples have been pillars in our church for a long time, and continue to contribute in so many ways. They are great role models for all of us.”