erry and Barb Henninger

For those unfamiliar, “Meet Cute” is a term in the film industry. It refers to a scene in which two people who will form a future romantic couple, meet for the first time. Ernst Lubitsch, a German-born director, was trying to describe such a scene between Gary Cooper and Claudette Colbert in “Bluebeard’s 8th Wife,” in 1938, and called it a meet cute. The term stuck.

BAD BOY

Carol Deppen Wingfield tells of meeting Roger Wingfield in 7th grade. “I didn’t like him,” Carol says. From what she had heard, he’d been known to smoke in the alley, so she thought he was a bad boy. Carol and Roger celebrated their 58th wedding anniversary on January 31, 2022. They live in Picture Rocks.

CAR TROUBLE

Many years ago, Patricia (Pat) Perry Ungard’s car broke down and a nice woman stopped and gave her a ride home. The following week, Pat saw a car pulled over and stopped to pay a kindness forward. Bill Ungard was driving the car, and it had been his mother who had helped Pat out the week before. Bill and Pat enjoyed 45 years of marriage. Picture Rocks has been their home. Bill passed away on July 4, 2021. “He made his own Independence Day,” Pat says.

Bill and Pat Ungard

BLIND DATE

In October of 1971, Jonathon DeWire met Elinor (Elly) Corns through Beth Bones, a classmate of Jon’s in the Hughesville Schools. Beth brought Elly, her roommate at Lock Haven State College (now a University) home to Hughesville for a weekend. “Beth introduced us on a Saturday afternoon and I was quite smitten with this girl,” Jon says. He was scheduled to work at the Tastee Freeze that evening, but much preferred Beth’s suggestion of a double date for the Hughesville vs Montoursville football game. “Thank you, Vanetta, for filling in for me,” Jon says, still grateful for the date that led to their 49 years of marriage. Jon and Elly live in Canterbury, Connecticut.

COUNTRY GIRL

Ron Arthur then a Muncy resident, met Pam Kravitz of Sullivan County, through a mutual friend, Bill Boatman. Ron saw Pam’s photo in “The Sullivan Review,” trapping with her father, Danny, and wanted to meet her. Pam was then serving as Chief Clerk at the Sullivan County Courthouse, later becoming a Commissioner. On the day Bill brought Ron to meet Pam, she had pigtails and was dressed in a western skirt and cowboy boots, because the staff had designated it Country Dress-up Day. Pam thought it probably wasn’t the best first impression, but it seems it was ok, because Ron and Pam were married for 34 years, residing in Muncy some of that time. Ron died in 2019.

LONG-DISTANCE

Roger and Carol Wingfield

In 1966, Katha Fiester of Hughesville found herself tangled up in a Scandinavian sweater. Speaking figuratively, that is. She was in Senior Literature class in Hughesville when the new Danish exchange student–Hughesville’s first– sat in the desk in front of her. “He was wearing the most beautiful navy and white Scandinavian sweater, and I became lost in the intricate yarn pattern. Then I began imagining how hard it must be to be so far away from family and friends,” Katha says. Wanting to make him feel welcome, Katha introduced herself and got to know Svend Jespersen. Because she was 4 feet, 10 inches tall, she could easily hide behind him and talk, away from the teacher’s view. “He became quite the celebrity in the school,” Katha reports. “Besides his beautiful sweaters, his hair was longer, like the Beatles, and he was allowed to wear jeans, although it was not accepted in the dress code for other students.” Svend and Katha became good friends and spent lots of time together.

After graduation, Svend returned to Denmark and Katha went off to college, and they did not keep in touch as they went about their separate lives with careers and families. This time period was pre-cell phones, facebook, Skype, etc. Svend returned to Hughesville in 2012 to visit his host family, George and Pauline Montgomery. Katha Fiester Elser cancelled plans that January night to accept an invitation from a mutual classmate for dinner with Svend and others. “Both of us were single by that time, and we began traveling between Pennsylvania and Denmark often,” Katha says. Svend and Katha were married in a private ceremony at Katha’s Main St. home in December, 2013, by Mayor Pauline Montgomery. George Montgomery was the photographer. “But so many people had helped us with airport rides and with Svend’s immigration journey, that we wanted to celebrate our marriage with them,” Katha shares. “So we had another ceremony and festivities at The Country Cupboard in Lewisburg in June of 2014 with our friends.” A love story that began to weave itself from a beautiful sweater in an English class over 50 years ago happily continues entwining Katha and Svend’s lives.

WHAT COULD BE SWEETER?

Following graduation from Hughesville High School in 1964, Barb Sherwood worked at the W.T. Grant Store in Montoursville Plaza, as a salesperson at the candy counter. There she met Jerry Henninger, a stock person who delivered sweets to keep the candy case filled. All that sugar led to marriage and a move to Allentown where Jerry worked on corporate planes for Mack Truck. A benefit of that job was some trips for the couple, two of them to Paris, the City of Love. “I thought I’d died and gone to heaven! I was a country girl who moved to the city and flew off to Paris,” Barb Said. She and Jerry have been married for 55 years.

Svend and Katha Elser Jespersen

Jon and Elly DeWire

Ron and Pam Arthur