Rakness' share 60-year marriage success

On June 12, Saratoga residents Richard and Gloria Rakness will celebrate 60 years of marriage together.

Going back to their teenage years, Richard said he first met the former Gloria Esterby at Minot Model High School in Minot, North Dakota. Gloria said she remembers their first informal date, which involved piling into Richard's 1947 Chevrolet Coupe Deville with other kids for "buck night".

Richard said he later asked Gloria to the high school prom for their first official and more formal date.

"I invited her to the junior/senior prom in 1951, and I've had the same girlfriend ever since. She's also been trying to get rid of me ever since," Richard joked.

After high school graduation in '51, courtship became serious and continued during their two years of college, after which Gloria taught school and Richard farmed. On June 12, 1954, they were married at the First Lutheran Church in Minot.

After tying the knot, the couple spent the next 11 years farming, ranching and raising their three sons- Steven, Scott and Kenneth- near Minot. During this time Gloria also taught school in a one-room country school house.

The family then moved to Wellington, Colo. in 1965, where they continued their farming and ranching operation, and two years later daughter Robin was born. In 1972, Richard and Gloria bought acreage outside of Wheatland, where they owned and operated the Laramie Peak Feed Store with partner and brother-in-law Lloyd Clemetson. Richard and sons also had a large custom haying operation.

From 1977 to 1988, they leased the Medicine Bow Ranch at Elk Mountain and the Diamond Ranch at McFadden, Wyoming. Richard and Gloria spent a few years in Saratoga before living full-time at the Medicine Bow Ranch. When all the kids were grown and married, the couple returned to Saratoga in 1988, where Richard worked in real estate for 12 years before opening his own company, the Double R Land Company, in 1999. He retired the business on New Year's Day 2014.

Richard and Gloria have been active members in the First Presbyterian Church and the Platte Valley Kiwanis Club in Saratoga. Richard added the importance of making sure your wife is happy.

"After you get married, right up front you learn how to say 'Yes ma'am, no ma'am," he joked.

The couple will celebrate their 60th with a cake reception from 1 to 3 p.m. Sunday, at the First Presbyterian Church and Fellowship Hall in Saratoga, 303 W. Bridge Ave. No gifts please.

 

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