Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2017, will mark the 75th wedding anniversary for Don and Ruth Nutt, who are 96 and 95, respectively. The couple, who spent most of their lives in Baldwin City, met in 1941 on a blind date.

In 1941, Don Nutt went on a blind date, but he saw clearly enough the young Ruth Ann Yocum, with whom he would spend the evening.

Ruth Ann and Don Nutt on their wedding day, Sept. 20, 1942.

“She was really attractive,” Don, 96, said. “She got my attention. I never went out with anyone else after that date. She was it.”

The blind date proved to be a life-altering event for the young Miami County couple who married the next year and who will celebrate their 75th anniversary Wednesday with their three sons, David, 69, Mark, 66, and Mike, 60.

Ruth Ann, who grew up in Osawatomie, was working in an office in Paola, Don’s hometown, when the couple met. She was supposed to go out with Don’s best friend on that fateful date, but Don filled in when the friend had to cancel, Ruth Ann remembers.

“He kept a date for his friend, and he just kept on keeping,” Ruth Ann, 95, said.

Don and Ruth Ann don’t remember exactly what they did on that first date in Paola, although Don is sure they went to a movie.

“It didn’t cost much to date at that time,” he said. “You could go to a movie for 10 cents and buy a hamburger for a quarter. You could go on a date and have change left from a dollar.”

The couple dated for about 18 months before getting married on Sept. 20, 1942, with the realization Don would soon be called to do his part for a nation at war. Three months later Don was in the Army, assigned to an ordnance and heavy-maintenance unit.

At first, Don’s service didn’t separate the newlyweds as Ruth Ann traveled with him to various stateside postings. That ended when Don was deployed to France in September 1944, just months after the June 6 invasion of Normandy.

“I kissed her goodbye on the streets of Anniston, Alabama,” he said. “I didn’t see or talk to her for the next 20 months.”

It was the toughest 20 months of their marriage, Ruth Ann said. The knowledge that Don wasn’t in a combat unit made the separation easier, although she knew he was required to go to the front to pick up tanks and other heavy equipment needing repair. Although she wasn’t supposed to, she even knew where Don was stationed in France.

“He wrote a letter saying one of our friends got a job working for Avon, ‘think about that,'” she said. “I knew then he was in Avon, France.”

Don was discharged 11 months after the war in Europe ended and returned to Paola in April 1946. The couple soon moved to Baldwin City when Don, like so many of his fellow veterans, took advantage of the GI Bill and enrolled at Baker University in August 1946. Baldwin City would remain the couple’s home until their recent move to Brandon Woods in Lawrence.

“Baldwin was our life,” Don said. “Really, our life started together when we started at Baker.”

Days after he received his business diploma, Don started working at Baldwin State Bank.

“I started at the bank in February 1950 and retired in 1990,” he said. “During my time, I went through all the stages. I ended up as president. I was chairman of the board for 23 years.”

In addition to his career at Baldwin State Bank, Don served 20 years on the Baldwin school board, was on the Baker board of trustees for 19 years and was a board member of the Douglas County Bank for 20 years. He was on the school board when voters approved bond issues that built the elementary school that is now the Lighthouse Baptist Church on Chapel Street and a new high school, which is now the junior high. The Collins Center was built during his time as a Baker trustee, and affordable/senior housing Hancuff Place Apartments were among the projects he helped move forward as a banker.

Ruth Ann was active in the community, as well. She was a member of the Baldwin City Business and Professional Women, PTO, HESTA and United Methodist Women.

Beyond Baldwin City, she had the distinction of being the first woman to serve as chair of the Douglas County Extension Council Executive Board. During her time as chair, Extension built its new home on the Douglas County Fairgrounds and founded the Douglas County 4-H Foundation.

“We had been given a farm, which we had to give up because we had no way to take title of it,” she said. “We decided we should set up a foundation. We thought it would take four or five years to get any money. But when we put it in the paper that it was formed, a lady changed her will and gave us almost $500,000 she was going to leave to Lawrence Memorial Hospital.”

They accomplished all those community endeavors as a team, Don said.

“It wasn’t just one sided,” he said. “We knew we were together, and that was our intentions. There was never any questions.”

It is that unwavering and unquestioned commitment that continues to impress her, Ruth Ann said.

“The most important thing we did together was raise three wonderful sons,” she said. “Our boys were very athletic. In all the years they played baseball, football and basketball, Don never missed a game.”

After 75 years of marriage, she still marvels at her husband’s commitment to family and honesty, Ruth Ann said.

“I always knew if he gave his word on something, you had it,” she said. “He was honest with people. That’s a really good place to start a relationship. I always knew if he gave his word to me, he would keep it.”