Orville "Bud" and Bette Moore will celebrate their 67th wedding anniversary this spring. The two wed on April 13, 1945 while Bud was in the U.S. Navy. Now 92, Bud drives from his Blairstown home almost every day to visit Bette at Belle Plaine Nursing and Rehab Center.
Friday the 13th is anything but unlucky for one Benton County couple.
It was on that day in April 1945 that Orville “Bud” Moore and Bette Harris pledged their love and devotion and began a new life together as husband and wife.
Today, more than 66 years later, the Moore’s love is stronger than ever. So strong that Bud, 92, and living independently in his Blairstown home, makes the nine-mile drive to Belle Plaine nearly every day to visit is wife at Belle Plaine Nursing and Rehab Center, her home since 2006. Except for the days when snow or rain keeps him at home, Bud arrives in time to have lunch with Bette and spends several hours with her before making the trek back to Blairstown.
“My purpose is to be here everyday, but it doesn’t always happen that way,” Bud said.
The Moore’s love story began in November 1944 when Bud, a Blairstown area native, was home on a 30-day leave from the U.S. Navy. One evening the 25-year-old aviation radioman stopped by a Belle Plaine establishment where service people gathered during World War II. Bette, raised in Belle Plaine and 20 years old, had just finished her workday at the Leader Store, a men’s clothing shop in Belle Plaine.
The jukebox was cranking out popular tunes of the day. Bud recalled, “I was sitting with some people she knew. She came over to our table and wanted to dance with a girlfriend.” Thinking it inappropriate for girls to be dance partners, Bud stepped in. “I took over and we did quite well. She was so good I could hardly make a mistake,” he smiled.
It was a whirlwind romance as the couple saw each other every day during the remainder of Bud’s leave. Knowing Bette was the girl for him, Bud popped the question before he left for reassignment to Norfolk, VA, where he installed aircraft radio wiring and cables.
“There was a lot of letter writing and telephone calls,” Bud said of the four months he and Bette were apart. “I saved the letters,” added Bette, 88, her blue eyes twinkling.
The couple would not see each other again until Bette and her best friend, Margaret Mulherin, arrived in Norfolk by train for the wedding.
Orville "Bud" and Bette Moore were married during World War II.
The ceremony was held at a Norfolk Presbyterian Church with Margaret and Doug McDonald, Bud’s friend from the service, as witnesses.
Bette wore a plain aqua colored dress and carried a bouquet of her favorite flowers, a gift from Bud. “I told him my favorite flower was gardenias, so he got me gardenias,” she recalled.
The newlyweds took no honeymoon, but Bette stayed a week or two with Bud before returning to Belle Plaine until an apartment became available for them in Norfolk in June.
The war now over, the Moores moved back to Iowa in September 1945. They lived with both sets of parents before finding a place of their own. “We had a two-story house in Blairstown we got for a dollar a day rent, and it was furnished,” Bud chuckled.
Bud returned to his old job at the Blairstown lumberyard, Denniston & Partridge Co. The following year he was named manager and would remain with the company 23 years.
The couple’s first bundle of joy, Lanny, joined the family in 1946, the year before Bud and Bette bought a home in Blairstown. The birth of son Bill in 1951 completed the family.
Bette went to work at the Blairstown Me Too grocery store when Lanny toddled off to kindergarten. She was a checker and stock girl but did a little bit of everything, Bud said. She later commuted to Armstrong’s Department Store in downtown Cedar Rapids, working 11 years in the little boys’ department.
By then, Bud was working at Kmart West in Cedar Rapids, primarily managing the building materials department. He eventually retired in 1985.
The couple moved into a home they built on Blairstown’s Fremont Street in 1964. Bud lives there alone these days after a broken hip landed Bette at the care center.
When asked about challenges they faced throughout their marriage, both were pressed to recall anything significant except for a health scare with their youngest son. “When Bill was still a baby, he had convulsions. That was quite a concern for us. But he came out of that very good,” Bud said.
Other than that, life has dealt the Moores a favorable hand. “There have been no jealous husbands,” laughed the good-humored Bud.
Among their many joys are two grandsons, four great-grandchildren and one on the way.
The secret to a long marriage is making others happy, Bud firmly believes. “I think the biggest part of it is, who’s going to benefit by my changing? Am I going to hurt somebody by being different than I am, or am I going to make the people that surround me happy by being the person I am?” Bud said he is not so much concerned about himself as he is about what Bette and his family think of him. “If I could please all of those people, I’d be pretty comfortable.”
Bette believes open communication is vital to a successful marriage. “If we have something gripping us, we get it out in the open. We don’t carry a grudge.”
Bette also believes a parent’s answer to a child’s request is final. “If I say no, it means no. If they go to their dad first, it’s what he says,” she said.
The couple also has some advice for today’s newlyweds. Bud stressed, “Never, never call your wife the ‘old lady’ or your husband your ‘old man.’ It’s such an ugly word, in my opinion.” Use clean language around the children and don’t do anything to embarrass yourself or your spouse, he concluded.
Bette has practical advice for new brides. “Learn how to fry a chicken before you get married.”
Best wishes for many more anniversaries, Bud and Bette. A marriage as long as yours is a rare example of true love and devotion, an inspiration for all couples as they walk the winding path of matrimony.
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