On January 9th, Bill and Nancy Bloom celebrated their 79th anniversary. Now 100 and 96, respectively, the pair were married in 1946 after a six-month courtship. Most of that was long distance, mailing letters back and forth; Nancy from her hometown of Clay Center and Bill from his family farm in Oneida, KS.
The pair met when Nancy traveled with a friend to visit the latter’s brother. That brother was Bill. He said he noticed her right away and, not-so-subtly, peeking at “the pretty redhead” from behind his newspaper.
“I must’ve been looking at him because I would see that newspaper every little bit pulled down and eyes peeking over,” Nancy said.
Though Bill was dating someone else at the time, the pair soon began their letter exchange.
Six months later, they landed at a preacher’s doorstep in Marysville with a plan to elope.
At the time, Nancy McCann was just 17 and had signed permission from her parents to be wed.
“The plan was to keep driving until we found a preacher. First we went to Washington but couldn’t find one so we went to Marysville” he said. “We got there at 11 and he said come back at 1. So we came back at 1 and we were married.”
Though originally the pair had planned to get hitched later in the year, they changed plans when Bill received a draft letter calling him to the Army.
Rather than part while engaged, they bumped up the date of their union.
“He had to report to the draft board so we thought we should get married earlier,” Nancy said. “That set a lot of tongues wagging.”
However, they said Bill was told his flat feet would keep him out of the military, so he found work elsewhere. Now with a wife in tow.
The couple went to Bill’s hometown of Oneida, where they lived in the family farmhouse and Bill worked for a carpenter. His parents had recently relocated and left the space for the newlyweds. Next, they moved to a different farm where he worked as a dairy farmer for more than a decade. Their first three children, Mike, Dave, and Cyndy were born in the nearby Sabetha.
Later, Bill went back to school and the family lived in Omaha, then Topeka, where he was employed by a local church. This was also where their youngest, Phil, was born.
They also did a stint in Oakley, KS, where Bill worked for a cousin.
“They had plenty of work to do,” Nancy said. Then there was a department store, the Phillips Gas Company, and he worked as an orderly as well as an EMT for several years; Bill kept himself busy to keep food on the family’s table.
Then in 1959 the family came to Clay Center where they founded the Bible Church in 1970. Located at the corner of 3rd and Blunt Streets, it was later converted into a home where their daughter, Cyndy, lived for 18 years.
Bill was the church’s pastor for 30 years. Though he said at the beginning, that was just one of his jobs.
“To supplement our livelihood I worked at the hospital,” he said. “When you start a church you don’t have nothing to live on so you got to work.”
Meanwhile, Nancy worked as a housekeeper. She was with her first client for a decade then the next for 17 years. Then she worked in ceramics by helping pour and clean molds.
“She said I could do anything I wanted to, make what I wanted in my spare time so we had a lot of ceramic things in the house,” she said.
At home, she would sew, paint, and crochet. She learned calligraphy too.
“I was always busy with everything. Something would come along and I tried it.”
Meanwhile Bill had a wood turner for projects and made cement molds to sell to others. He was known for turning out various animals, and statues of a boy with a fishing pole. All of which Nancy painted.
He said a few larger models were also made, including an owl and eagle, weighing about 200 pounds each. The latter was in his front yard until it was stolen and moved to Don Reed’s front yard, who was the mayor at the time.
“He called me the next day and told me it was in his yard and I told him to keep it,” he said. “They had to have some equipment to take it, but I don’t know what they did that for.”
As for the longevity to their marriage, Nancy said it was easy.
“If we had any differences we tried to get them worked out before we went to bed at night,” se said. “I never really thought about it, just one day at a time and the first thing you know, it’s 79 years.”
Meanwhile, Bill had some marriage advice of his own.
“Just say ‘Yes, Dear. Yes, Dear’ and that worked,” he laughed. “Be kind to one another. That’s what the Bible says and that works.”
