13 Lois and Art Derscheid are as much in love today as they were seven decades ago when they said “I do.” Last Tuesday, the couple celebrated their 71st anniversary over lunch and amid a table full of flowers and balloons sent by family and friends.
“We’ve been married a long, long time,” Art said. “She’s been a good wife. She only had to get after me once with a stick.”
Lois has been a resident of Huron Nursing Home for the past two years. Art lives close by at Sun Quest Village.
Livelong Beadle County residents, they met when their families lived across the road from each other. She became his bride at 16. He was 22.
“It was acceptable to get married that young back then,”Lois said.
With the exception of a few years during World War II when they lived in Kansas and worked at a defense plant, they farmed at different locations around Huron.
They say the toughest time in their lives was during the 1930’s, when the crops were bad and it took everything they could muster just to make ends meet.
But they made the best of a bad situation and started a dance band with relatives Wilbur and Colon Kornder. Lois played the piano and Art the Violin.
In addition to music, he was active in the Odd Fellows and she in the Rebekahs.
Although they have no children, their 13 nieces and nephews have kept them busy over the years--providing all the excitement they needed, they said.
Their niece Joan Currier of Iroquois, is the closest relative in the area. She makes sure her aunt and uncle’s needs are met in their golden years.
“When we were kids we used to go up and stay with them,” Currier said. “They were the extra grandparents in my life.”
When time came to move Lois into the nursing home, it was tough for both of the Derscheids because it meant they could no longer live together. Art then moved to SunQuest.
Married Feb 7, 1924, Art said he can’t quite recall who stood up with them at the wedding. “I can’t remember every detail like I used to,” he said.
Asked how they made it work for so many years, both say it was a piece of cake.
“It’s easy when you’re in love,” he said. “And don’t ever go to bed mad.”

Arthur F Derscheid, 98, of 798 Ninth St SW, died Thursday, Feb 10, 2000, at the Huron Nursing Home.
The feneral will be at 2 pm Saturday at First United Methodist Church chapel in Huron, with the Rev Richard Rinearson officiating. Burial will be in Maplewood Cemetery at Iroquois.
Friends may call this afternoon and evening and Saturday morning at Welter Funeral Home in Huron or prior to the service Saturday afternoon at the church chapel.
Atrhur Frederick Derscheid was born June 6, 1901, to Peter and Anna (Stephen) Derscheid 11 miles north and two miles west of Iroquois. He attended grade school and graduated from Willow Lake High School in 1919.
On Feb 7, 1924, he married Lois Kornder. Together they farmed in Beadle County in the Carpenter area. In 1931, they moved to a dairy farm five miles north of Huron.
During World War II, from 1941 to 1945, he worked in the defense plant at Wichita, Kan. Following the war effort, they returned to the Huron area, where they purchased a dairy farm four and a half miles norht and one mile west of Huron.
They retired in 1968 and moved to their home in Huron. In 1993, he became a resident of SunQuest Village, and in May 1997, he moved to Huron Nursing Home.
He was a member of First United Methodist Church, Odd Fellows Lodge and Huron Area Senior Citizens.
He is survived by a sister, Louisa Paulsen of Novelty, MO, and many nieces and nephews, including Joan (Merlin) Currier of Iroquois and Nikki (Dick) Perry of Centerville.
He qas preceded in death by his parents and his wife.