Meet Your Neighbor: Fonda and Jim Risner celebrate 60 years of marriage
CLYDE - Fonda Risner wasn’t very impressed with Jim Risner on their first date. She was 16, he was 18, and he took her to the LaPort County Fair in Indiana, where all he could afford to buy her was half a footlong hot dog. Things fizzled fast, and they went their separate ways.
“The last time I saw him, he was going into the Army,” Fonda said. “I didn’t know what happened to him, but it didn’t matter. I wasn’t too fond of splitting a footlong hot dog.”
Jim and Fonda, now a popular husband-wife realty team from Clyde, celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary on May 4.
After a forgettable first date, the couple reconnected in 1962
Despite their unspectacular first date, Jim and Fonda reconnected at a high school basketball game in December 1962. Fonda had graduated high school by then, and Jim was home on leave.
“We passed each other in the hallway. He asked if he could stop by my house,” Fonda said. “He came over that week, and we called daily after he went back to the Army. We’d talk for hours.”
Just a few months later, in March 1963, Jim informed Fonda that it was time to get married.
“He said, ‘Go ahead and get everything ready,’” Fonda said. “He didn’t really ask me. He just said that, but I knew what he meant.”
The Army didn’t pay well, so Jim still didn’t have a lot of money.
Photographer never showed up at their wedding
“He came home with my diamond at the end of March, and we paid for it after we got married,” Fonda said. “I planned my wedding all by myself, and I paid for my wedding all by myself. I handwrote the invitations and bought my dress from Alden’s for $35. My typing teacher was an amateur photographer. He was going to take our wedding photos, but he never showed up. There are no pictures of my wedding, but we have our memories.”
On May 4, 1963, Jim and Fonda were married in an Indiana United Methodist Church and began their own fairytale love story. They became that day, not just husband and wife, but a two-man team of best friends.
They remained poor in those early years, but they survived together. They charged food when they didn’t have enough cash for groceries, and when money was very tight, Jim, who served with the 101st Airborne Division, would pawn his jump boots. When there was no money for entertainment, they were happy to dance together at home.
After raising a family, and a first career, the Risners entered real estate sales
Jim and Fonda raised four children and have 10 grandchildren and five great-grandchildren. Jim went on to build a successful managerial career with Hansen Quarry, and Fonda earned her real estate license at the age of 55. Jim earned his license five years later after retiring from Hansen. They work together at Bonnigson and Associates real estate.
Today, they are as close as ever.
“We rarely argue. Jim says it’s hard to argue by yourself. I’ll say I’m sorry when it’s not my fault,” Fonda said.
Sixty years after they said, “I do,” Jim and Fonda are still dancing. When a familiar song plays on the radio, they’ll slip into each other’s arms.
“We used to go to the Army’s NCO club for dances, and we would win contests,” Fonda said. “Now, we’ll sit here at home and a song will come on, and I’ll say, ‘Let’s dance.’ Dancing keeps us going.”
So does their faith.
“It’s God and then your spouse and then your kids,” Fonda said. “That’s my philosophy, always.”
That philosophy has held them together for 60 years.
“I read that less than 1% of marriages make it to 60,” Jim said. “By the law of averages, we shouldn’t have made it. I just think we are compatible. We don’t argue about anything, and we know we’re better as a team.”
Contact correspondent Sheri Trusty at sheritrusty4@gmail.com.
This article originally appeared on Fremont News-Messenger: Meet Your Neighbor: Jim and Fonda Risner together for 60 years
