I’m Nancy Thomas Tepfer and I’m recounting my lo-o-ong relationship with Daniel (Dan) Tepfer.

I grew up in Wayne Township, Marion County, and went to local schools. I attended Ben Davis Grade School which later became part of Ben Davis High School. I then went to Ben Davis High School where I had some classes in my old elementary building. I graduated in 1961.

Dan grew up in the small town of Friendsville in western Maryland. His dad returned to IU Medical School, so the family moved to Indiana before Dan’s sophomore year. They thought the kids would attend highly rated Shortridge High School but learned too late that they lived in the Ben Davis district, so Dan went there and also graduated in 1961.
Because our names were Thomas and Tepfer, we were in the same homeroom, but I didn’t pay any attention to or interact with him at all.

I officially met Dan at the post-prom dinner that we attended with our dates – me with another BDHS senior and Dan with a girl he encountered at the grocery store where he worked. The next day I told my mother that I had met a boy who had the nicest laugh. Guess who? Lest you think that was the beginning of a beautiful romance, we didn’t talk again until weeks later.

At the rehearsal for graduation, students were seated alternately boy-girl, boy-girl approximately alphabetically, putting Nancy Thomas to the left of Daniel Tepfer. Some parents of our class had arranged an after-ceremony party. An aside: You might not believe this, but back in the day, one didn’t attend a dance, or even an organized graduation party, unless you had a date. No going with groups of friends like now.

As Dan and I chatted at the rehearsal, we realized that neither had a date for the party so we decided to go together. Each was nothing but a convenience for the other. If Dan had turned right instead of left, he would have gone to the party with Lois Tangman.

But that party was the beginning of a beautiful romance. We dated most of that summer before college. Dan went to Butler, and I went to Ball State. We both dated others a bit but always spent time together when I was home for a weekend, holiday or summer break. By junior year, there were no more dates with others. We were serious.
We got married on June 27,1965. The first weekend of that June was his graduation, the second was mine, the third was Father’s Day, and the fourth was our wedding day. Our honeymoon was a trip to New York City, a generous gift from his aunts and uncles who lived in NYC.

Dan was in ROTC at Butler and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Air Force. About two months after our wedding, we drove to his first assignment in Duluth, Minnesota. Our first little apartment was two blocks up from Lake Superior, and that was the view from our bedroom window. Duluth was also where I had my first elementary teaching job.

Since then, we have lived in Angeles City in the Philippines during the Vietnam War; Great Falls, Montana; Lompoc, California; Montgomery, Alabama; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Chelmsford, Massachusetts, and Dayton, Ohio twice. Not bad for someone from Indiana who had never traveled much.

We have three children, and we are proud grandparents of six grandchildren, ranging in age from 28 to 2.

We have been married for 60 years. We attended Ben Davis class reunions whenever we were able. Three years ago we moved from Ohio to Tully, New York, to be close to our youngest daughter and her family. Our adventure, travel and romance continue.