Hayes celebrate 60 years together

Noel “Van” and Ella Marie Hayes celebrated their 60th anniversary at the Little America Hotel & Resort in Cheyenne, Dec. 23, 2012.

The couple were married Dec. 21, 1952 at Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church in Greeley, Colo.

The couple met while attending college at Colorado State University (called Colorado A&M at that time).

Van was approached by his fraternity brothers to take Ella Marie out. “We have a gal who is shy,” they told Van. “Will you meet her and maybe take her out?”

The fraternity and sorority the Hayes were members of were close-knit and many of the girls dated the boys.

“We were all pretty close,” Van said.

Van had traveled all over the United States and Ella Marie described herself as a farm girl who hadn’t done much traveling.

Marrying Van changed that.

They got married during Christmas break and went to Loveland to visit her family and travelled to Wichita to see Van’s family.

“We have been on our honeymoon ever since,” Van said.

Van’s degree was in animal husbandry and animal production options. Ella Marie’s degree was in home economics.

“I married her because she was a good cook,” Van said.

After college, the couple moved to Cheyenne, where Van worked for International Harvester. Van was away from home a lot during those years, and when a job opportunity came up with the soil conservation office he took it.

He spent one-and-a-half years training in Wheatland. Their oldest son, Dave, was born in Cheyenne. Their second, Steve, was born in Wheatland.

After training in Wheatland, Van spent seven years in Meeteetsee, from 1957 to 1964, and Mike and daughter Kathy were born in nearby Cody.

The Meeteetsee office closed in 1964 and Van moved his family to Lander.

In 1969, Van was transferred to the USDA-NRCS (United State Department of Agriculture, Natural Resource Conservation Service) and moved his family to Saratoga.

By that time, their children were very active in school and Van asked to stay here until his children finished school.

“I had seen a lot of kids moved from school to school,” Van said, and he didn’t want that for his children.

Van retired from Saratoga in 1983.

Ella Marie worked at the Old Baldy Club and taught as a substitute.

After retirement, Van and Ella Marie started to travel.

Ella Marie had always liked to write and in the mid 1980s, she wrote about her garden which was planted with seeds from the Guernsey Seed Catalog. Her story was published in the Guernsey Seed Magazine.

Van has dabbled in photography since he was a child and still has his first camera.

They began to work as a team. “The pay is better when you have photographs with the stories,” Ella Marie said.

The couple have written about their travels - Van has been to all 50 states. The couple’s articles and photographs have been published in several magazines including “The Fence Post”, “Wren Magazine”, “Trailer Life”, “Motor Home” and “Highways”.

Their biggest trips had been in their RV. Then they started taking cruises.

They have also traveled all through Alaska, driven in Canada and Mexico.

They always return to Saratoga. Their children live all over the United States, but still enjoy returning to Saratoga to hunt and fish.

Their secret to a long marriage: “Damned if I know,” Van said. Ella Marie pats him on the knee and smiles “We still believe in the old principles.”

The couple have four children, eight grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.