Still pen pals after 65 years

Editor’s note: In the week leading to Valentine’s Day, the CNA editorial staff is sharing stories about how some local couples met. Dick and Ellie Carney’s story is the first of five love stories this week.

When asked what has kept their 65 year marriage going strong, Dick Carney was quick to say, “patience.”

Dick and Ellie Carney of Creston know a thing or two about patience. The couple were pen pals for nearly a year before they ever met in person.

“Dear Ellie, You don’t know me from the Man in the Moon, but I’m writing to you just the same. Mike was telling me about the dolls he knew at Stephen’s … he was telling me about the letter he received from a Yankee gal and that’s what prompted me to write. You see I’m a damn Yankee myself now,” Dick wrote in his first letter to Ellie in 1954.

Dick and Ellie Carney were introduced by twins “Mike and Sue.” Mike was Dick’s Phi Delta Theta fraternity brother at Georgia Tech and Sue was Ellie Carney’s roommate at Stephens College in Missouri.

The Carneys said the letters helped build communication and laid the foundation for a strong friendship.

“They were beautiful letters,” said Ellie Carney, as she recalled the reason she hoped to meet Dick.

Ellie said she started to form an idea of what kind of man Dick was based on his writings and started to crush on him after receiving a few. When they finally decide to meet, they had yet to see any photos of each other. However, both said they were pleasantly surprised and it was worth the wait.

Dick recalled his first in-person meeting with Ellie. He was on a work-study program in Chicago at the time at an iron foundry and travelled by train to see her in Detroit, where her parents resided.

“I had never met her or her family. It was scary,” said Dick Carney. “I was very happy with her. With all of them. It was a very enjoyable weekend.”

Ellie’s eyebrows raised rapidly a few times and smiled thinking about her first impression of her husband.

“He was adorable,” she said. “His letters were beautiful. I knew he was a great guy.”

The letters continued and Ellie eventually visited Dick in Atlanta. During her visit, they discussed marriage. After a few weeks, Ellie returned to Detroit to talk to her parents about their plans.

The Carneys were married April 9, 1955, in Atlanta, Georgia, at a church on Peachtree Drive among family and friends. Following their nuptials, the pair took off in a Buick Roadmaster Ellie’s parents had gifted them. Neither one had owned their own car before. They headed to the Smokey Mountains, where they honeymooned for the weekend before landing back in class Monday morning.

Following graduation, Dick enlisted in the U.S. Army.

“Once we got married we hadn’t figured out how to make a living, so that was one of the mutual things we talked about was the army,” he said.

Dick said watching his two older brothers serve in the military during World War II inspired him. He joined the army as a corporal in 1955 before receiving a direct commission to become a lieutenant. He retired from the army as major in 1975.

Dick’s 20 year military career further tested the Carneys’ patience and commitment as they relocated to bases in Utah, Arizona, New Jersey, Italy and Germany. Much of their travel was with their three daughters – Terry Wallace, Cathy Carney, Stacy VanHal – in tow.

Upon Dick’s military retirement, the couple settled in Creston. Dick first worked for First Federal Bank before taking a sales position with Gits Manufacturing, from which he retired in 1995. In Creston, the couple purchased Aladdin Travel Agency, which Ellie worked as a travel agent and tour guide for 20 years.

“I took them east, I took them west, north, south, I took them everywhere. I was a leader on the bus and told them all about what they were seeing,” she said. “Life was quite an adventure.”

Now in their 80s, life is much slower – settled. However, they still carry on traditions they’ve made for themselves, such as Dick’s gift of a single rose for the couple’s wedding anniversary.

The Carneys also still write each other daily as they leave notes with random thoughts, reminders and words of affection around the house for each other.

“I look still look forward to them,” Ellie said.