Celebrating 80 Years of Life

Donn and Mary Liechty Celebrate 80 Years of Life

2009 has both Donn and Mary Liechty celebrating their 80^th birthdays.  Donn turned 80 on February 15 and Mary turns 80 on July 3. 

Donn is a life-long resident of Clay City.  As the eldest son of Marco and Thelma Liechty, he was raised just south of town on his parents’ farm.  He graduated from Clay City High School in 1947.  Mary, the youngest child and only daughter of Earl and Elsie Hubbell, grew up in Jasonville.  She graduated from Midland High School also in 1947.

Donn and Mary met for the first time when Mary attended a New Hope Baptist Church service.  Donn sat in the pew behind her and kept flicking at the back of her large brimmed hat.  Donn received his due when he had to meet Mary’s four older brothers and their wives when he showed up for their first date in his 1939 Chevrolet (Later Donn moved up to a 1948 Chevy).

They married on March 12, 1950, and moved into their first home – the Cromwell place on Puckett Prairie.  Their first son, Douglas Mark, was born on March 21, 1951. They moved to the Baumuck farm in 1954.  That fall, while pregnant with their second son, Mary gleaned corn in order to get enough money to buy their first television.  Dennis Gene, was born on February 21, 1955.  It is probably just a coincidence that they had no more children after the television was bought. 

Donn farmed for several years until 1957 when he spent an entire miserable cold, rainy day rounding up his herd of hogs which had gotten loose.  Right after that, he started working for IBM in Greencastle.  In 1958, they purchased their present home for the outlandishly high price of $7,000.  Mary started working at the Clay City school in 1966.  In 1975, Donn was selected as Manager of the Year for the Greencastle IBM plant.  They opened a greenhouse in 1979 where they sold garden plants and flowers every spring for the next 15 years. 

Donn retired from IBM in 1987.  After retirement, they began wintering in Apache Junction, Arizona, first taking a fifth-wheel RV down each year, and eventually purchasing a “park model.”  While in Arizona, they took advantage of many of the opportunities to learn new things.  It is here that Donn began his hobby of creating stained glass, which you will see on display at the upcoming open house.  

While the boys were still home, most summer weekends were spent waterskiing.  Almost like clockwork, when the 4-H fairs were over, they would spend a week at Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri.  It was a regular Clay City exodus involving other families like the Gerbers, Stickles, Coopriders, and others.  A conservative estimate is that Donn has taught over 4 dozen people how to ski.  In later years, Donn and Mary have vacationed all over the United States including Hawaii.  They have also traveled to Nova Scotia, Mexico, Switzerland, Italy, Austria, Liechtenstein, and Germany. 

Donn and Mary are blessed with 6 grandchildren; four from Doug’s marriage to Sally (Jennings) - Stephanie (23), Sabrina (21), Derek (20), and Donnovan (17) and two from Dennis’ marriage to Roberta (Rundell) - Christopher (25) and Marc (23). 

One of Doug's vivid memories of growing up involves his running away from home.  Mary was having some friends over when Doug decided that he would leave home and walk to a neighbor's home.  The only problem was that he did not tell his mother about his trip. After some time had passed, Mary became aware of his absence and, putting two and two together, surmised that Doug was down the road at the neighbors.  She ran down the road and found Doug there.  Wanting to impart on him the wisdom of not running away from home, she grabbed a limb off of a bush and used it as a switch.  Every time Doug slowed down on the way home, Mary applied the switch to the back of his bare legs. (There are times when short pants are not a good choice for attire.)  Upon reaching home Mary took stock and composed herself.  Then she looked at the switch and finally became aware of the fact that the switch was not just a bare branch.  Instead it was a limb from a brier bush and it was covered with thorns.  Doug claims that, during the 1/8 mile trip home, his feet only touched the ground 3 times.  He also claims that the scars are almost fully healed.

Their son, Dennis, said that one of his most vivid memories of growing up was the time he turned on the electric fence.  He claims that he did not know that his dad was on the backside of the building putting up new barbed wire. The first jolt of electricity caused Donn to jerk and get his gloves caught in the barbs.  Donn’s accompanying scream caused Dennis to panic and run for the house (leaving the electric fence still turned on).  Donn could not get loose and continued to be shocked every few seconds until Mary ran across the yard and turned off the electric fence.  To this day, Donn swears that Dennis knew darn well that he was wrapped in the barbed wires.  Dennis denies this but does say that the scars from the switching have almost faded away. 

The families of Donn and Mary Liechty would like to invite their friends and relatives to a celebration this coming Sunday, July 5.  It will be held in the United Methodist Community Hall from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.  (No gifts, please.)  Please come and reminisce with them and join in the celebration of their 80 years of life.