Once upon a time there was an Iowa farm girl. She was born at home and when the time came,
started school in a one-room schoolhouse.
When she was six-years-old, she moved to a farm with a big farmhouse on
a road that years later would be known as Erb Road. That girl grew and grew. She went to the “big” Luther school with less
than twenty students per grade. She had
girlfriends, played basketball, and participated in 4-H. She was an all-American farm girl.
It was a typical October Saturday night after World War
2. She rode along to town with her
parents. They would visit friends while
she searched the “big” town of Boone for fun.
Bowling, a movie, or just walking downtown was an exciting change from
life in the country. Little did she know
that this night would not only be exciting, but life changing! The girl and a friend were walking down an
alley, when she caught the eye of a farm boy driving down the street. This farm boy hadn’t been home too long from
serving in the War, and he knew a good thing when he saw it. He had spotted his future wife.
The farm boy pulled up to the farm girl. They hit it off immediately, and he invited
her to go for a ride to the big city of Ames to pick up his watch that was in
for repair. Without a hesitation she
hopped in and so began the first of many road trips the couple would take over
the next sixty-seven years.
The sweet couple had a standing date every Saturday night in
downtown Boone, until the farm girl finally told her parents about the boy she met. Then the dates became more often and more
varied. The couple hated going to
movies, which forced them to sit quietly (the farm girl loved talking more than
anything) so they opted for picnics and walks and drives. The girl’s mother would make a picnic lunch
out of garden fresh potato salad and the couple would be off.
The boy worked while the girl attended Boone Junior
College. Her studies soon came second to
her sweet beau. She would skip class to
take him lunch or visit him on a break.
By summer they were engaged, waiting to get married until after the fall
harvest. There had never been a longer
harvest. The boy worked harder than ever
before picking and thrashing the corn on his family’s farm.
When every last ear had been picked, he and his betrothed
headed to Chicago. They didn’t want a
big wedding, which was hard to avoid in small town Iowa, so they opted to marry
in Chicago with the boy’s best friend and his wife as witnesses. The cost of true love was $60 for a medical
exam, $60 for a marriage license, and $20 for the preacher. They married with future lifelong friends by
their side and the preacher pronounced them Mr. & Mrs. Donald Erb.
They returned to Iowa and settled into married life. The girl traded in junior college for a $35/month
job at the local newspaper that paid rent. The boy worked too and they saved
every penny to buy a farm. Before long a
baby was on the way. The future grandpa
living on the future Erb Road bought a neighboring farm and let the couple live
in the old farmhouse. The future grandma
wanted her daughter to stay at home with the baby, so she offered to pay her
daughter $35 dollars a month to be a stay-at-home mom. And so begins a special farm fairy tale, set
in the corn fields of Iowa. A beautiful
story of unconditional love, sacrifice and LOTS of kids.
