Friends 'til the end

Five couples look back on six decades of adventures together

There was a fair amount of commotion at Vernon and Thelma Johnson's house for a Sunday morning.

A trip to Fernie, British Columbia, was in the works, and four of the five requisite couples had gathered. One pair had to run home to get their birth certificates to get across the border.

As hugs and handshakes were exchanged, someone asked Jack Basham if he had brought his antique car with him.

"No, I brought my antique wife," he said, trying to keep a straight face.

"Oh, Jack," a couple of the wives groaned while the crowd laughed.

By 10:30 a.m., all five couples had assembled. Only four of the five were making this particular trip, though.

"Next stop, Eureka," one of the men announced, and once again, they were on their way.

SOME OF their children call them "The Fabulous Five." And their friendship is, indeed, fabulous.

The quintet of couples includes Vernon and Thelma Johnson, Bob and Dode Blake, Don and Betty Trankle, all of Kalispell; Gale and Charline Warren of Finley Point on Flathead Lake; and Jack and Mary Lou Basham of Thompson Falls.

The five couples, all married 60 years ago within a few months of one another (except for the Bashams, who've been married a little over 59 years), have spent six decades getting together for fun and traveling.

That's 299 years of married life, Betty Trankle pointed out.

IT'S A RATHER complicated story of how their lives interconnect.

Mary Lou, Dode and Thelma were childhood friends because their parents were good friends.

"Dode and I went to school with Don Trankle at Sparks School. That was near Stillwater Lutheran Church," Thelma Johnson said. "Betty was born in Iowa and met Don when he was in the service."

Betty's cousin, also in the military, introduced her to Don.

That accounts for four of the five connections.

"Vernon and I grew up in the Stillwater area," Thelma continued. "We were farm families 5 miles apart. Our parents went to Stillwater Grange."

Three of the couples were married at Stillwater Lutheran - the Blakes on Sept. 7, 1946; the Johnsons on Sept. 20, 1946, and the Bashams on Aug. 17, 1947. Mary Lou was a bridesmaid at both the Johnson and Blake weddings.

Dode, who had shared an apartment with good friend Thelma, was on her honeymoon so she couldn't be an attendant at the Johnson wedding.

Incidentally, Mary Lou and Dode are first cousins.

The Trankles were married that same magical year, on Aug. 20, 1946.

HERE'S HOW the fifth couple is woven into the mix.

Jack Basham and Gale Warren grew up together at Dayton. Gale was Jack's best man at his wedding.

Gale was in the service, stationed in California, when Charline's aunt, who worked at the Army hospital in Santa Barbara, invited Gale to a picnic.

"Her aunt had a daughter and wanted us to get together," Gale recalled.

But Gale had his sights set on Charline instead.

"I saw this blonde…" he said, referring to his wife of 60 years.

The romance quickly blossomed. The Warrens were the first of the five couples to marry; they tied the knot on June 30, 1946.

The friendships among the five couples also blossomed through the years. They played bridge and pinochle together. Oftentimes they'd put the children to bed and keep on playing cards into the evening. They gathered for potluck meals And they traveled together.

Mary Lou remembers the first big trip the other four couples took. Back then, times were different, she said, and an unmarried couple traveling together wasn't proper.

"It was a big to-do, and they wouldn't let us (Mary Lou and Jack) go because we weren't married yet," she recalled.

AFTER 60 years, the couples know each other so well they can practically finish one another's sentences.

"I don't remember any fights," Gale said. "We never found anything to fight about."

Thelma added: "We all loved our spouses from the get-go."

Three of the men - Don, Jack and Gale - were short-lived partners in a small lumber mill in 1953.

"We had it just long enough to go broke," Jack joked.

That venture gave way to long, successful careers. Gale retired after 32 years with the Lake County Road Department ; Jack spent most of his career in the propane heating and fuel business, first in Kalispell and later in Thompson Falls, where he owned a business for 24 years; Vernon farmed all his life at the farm he grew up on; Don sold cars for 34 years, more than 30 of which were for the local Chevrolet dealer; and Bob and his wife owned an office-supply business in Kalispell.

The women had careers in their own right, too. Thelma worked on the farm and was employed for several years at the county extention office. Charline worked at a Polson bank for 22 years and later started a travel agency. Betty was employed at the Flathead County Welfare Department for a time after she was married. Dode worked at Conrad Bank in Kalispell; that's where she met her husband, who at the time was based in Spokane and serviced office machines. And Mary Lou worked at an insurance agency for awhile.

They all raised varying numbers of children, and that yielded lots and lots of grandchildren and for some, great-grandchildren.

Through it all, the "Fabulous Five" have kept both their sense of humor and their health. Though all are now in their late 70s or early 80s, they're all still in relatively good health. The adage, "laughter is the best medicine," applies to this group.

They've also taken their marriage vows seriously. " 'Til death do us part" is a promise that means as much for their spouses as it does for the entire group.

Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by e-mail at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com