Making music together after 70 years of marriage
By Joan Janzen
Marvel and Ralph Jorgenson from Oyen will celebrate 70 years of marriage at an open house and family reunion at Acadia Valley on the Victoria Day long weekend. “Most of our family and all our kids will be there,” Ralph said. The couple has six children, 17 grandchildren, 36 great-grandchildren, and two great-great-grandchildren. All their family members reside in Alberta except for a granddaughter who lives in Singapore.
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The honoured couple were married on June 15, 1953, at the Oyen United Church. A reception followed at Marvel’s family’s farm south of Esther, after which 50 or more guests attended a dance at a little hall in Esther. The hall still stands but is no longer in use.
“We had showers; people were most generous,” Marvel recalled. “Gifts weren’t like you’d get nowadays. We got a lot of cups and saucers, towels, useful things for the home.”
“Young people didn’t have those things back then. Such a change in times,” Ralph agreed. Yet he and his wife Marvel are adapting to those changes quite well, as they send text messages on their phone.
“I said we have to learn how to do this (text),” Marvel explained. “Cause our kids don’t answer the phone otherwise.”
In 1948, Marvel and Ralph met as teens at a Halloween dance. Ralph had graduated from the high school at Oyen in 1948, and Marvel was a Grade 9 student from Esther. “I was struck enough that I chased her until she finally caught me,” Ralph chuckled.
And more than 70 years later, they are living together at the senior’s lodge in Oyen. “We farmed all our lives. Our two grandsons are now farming the land; their dad bought the place from us,” Ralph explained. “In 2011, both Marvel’s dad and my dad received 100-year plaques. It’s quite an accomplishment, especially when many farmers moved out of the area during the 1930s. Farming was a good life for both of us.”
“We’ve been fortunate to have good physical health,” Marvel added. She turned 89 on November 7, 2022, and Ralph turned 92 on January 8, 2023. “Elvis was born January 8, 1935,” he noted, and Ralph certainly shares the King of rock and roll’s love of music.
“Dad started a family orchestra in 1937 with my two brothers and my sister. I’m the baby of the family,” he explained. The family started playing for local dances that year. “When I was ten years old, I borrowed my brother’s saxophone and played one or two pieces at a dance.”
That was the beginning of Ralph’s musical pursuit. A year later, his brother bought a new saxophone, and Ralph inherited his old one. “I played steady for the band, except when I fell asleep at a dance, and my brother would give me an elbow and wake me up,” Ralph said.
Marvel was also musically inclined. “We played for a few school concerts before we were married,” she said. After they were married, Marvel and her sister-in-law traded off playing drums for a few years. Later on, Marvel played the piano.
“We all play by ear; I don’t think any of us took lessons except my sister,” Ralph explained. “I took one piano lesson from my sister, and that didn’t go very well.”
“We played all over the area here, including Saskatoon, Kindersley, Eatonia and Eston,” Marvel said. On New Year’s Eve 2013, the Jorgenson Orchestra conducted their final performance at the Oyen Seniors’ Centre.
The couple’s children, Alyss, Neil, Rita, Grant, Leonard and Vera, have fond memories of growing up on the farm. It was common to have friends or strangers pull into the yard asking for directions and have their parents invite them in for a bite to eat.
They recall their parents being willing to help anyone, whether it was pulling someone out of the ditch or rescuing a Great Horned Owl when it was found hanging from a nail. The couple’s offspring said their parents made all their efforts look so easy, but it’s exactly who they are.
So it’s not surprising that the Oyen Lions presented Ralph and Marvel with the Citizen of the Year Award in 2014. Over the years, they served on many committees and held positions at different clubs and associations. Those organizations included a baseball club, home and school, snowblower club, curling club, drama club, community association, Oyen Flying Club, Oyen Eastern Star and Masonic Lodge and the Oyen United Church. Ralph was a member of the Experimental Aircraft Association and also a pilot, with Marvel as his co-pilot.
Marvel and Ralph had been nominated for the award because they were well known for sharing their time, energy and talent with people in the district. Both of them have often said, “I want to do what I can, while I can,” and they do.
“We have a choir at the lodge, and I play for that every Wednesday evening,” Marvel said. And a week ago, they played at a senior home in Calgary where Ralph’s cousin is residing.
“We still play in the lodge at Oyen almost every Friday,” Ralph added. “We also play at the extended care in Oyen. Our instruments are getting pretty heavy to haul around.”
Marvel agreed, saying she noticed her electric piano is getting heavier. “I didn’t think you would notice since I usually carry it,” Ralph joked. But he admitted the staff at the lodge are always very willing to help move their equipment.
It was such a pleasure chatting with Marvel and Ralph on the phone. I hope you’ll join me in wishing them a happy anniversary, and if you’re able to, please attend their open house on May 20 at Acadia Valley.