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• And, click here for our list of Ada couples married 50-plus years
By Darlene Bowers
He spent much of that 4th grade school year in 1963 writing her name on his gray notebook. The cover was filled and the ciphers spilled onto the pages within. Every inch proclaimed one name, the name of the girl he adored.
Ornery schoolmates would grab the notebook and chase its namesake around chanting “Tony loves you, Tony loves you.” The girl would scoff and declare she had no use for a country hick boy. She was a town girl and didn’t care for his haircut.
Tony held true, he held the notebook in his hands, he held her in his heart. Seventh grade came along. Tony got his true love’s attention often enough for them to go to some dances together.
In 9th grade at an Ada High School football game at War Memorial Stadium Tony caught the girl’s attention for good. She was being hassled by an older boy and was trying in vain to spurn this other boy’s attention.
Tony sized up the situation, sauntered over, placed an arm around the girl and declared, “Leave my girl alone!” Tony and Vicki (Hackworth) Wolke have been sweethearts ever since.
Married May 6, 1972
The couple graduated together as part of the Ada High School Class of 1971 and were married on May 6, 1972, at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church in Ada.
Their families prepared a meal and the reception was held at the Conservation Club with ice cream and cake. They were blessed in the years that followed with a son and a daughter and felt their lives complete.
“We did everything together before the kids came along and then after they came along, too,” shared the couple, “If the kids weren’t invited, we didn’t go.”
The Wolke family lived on Simon Street for about a decade and then fell in love with a house on Highland Street that they didn’t think they could afford. A promotion at a local bank offered a loan to the first customers to walk in the door on a Monday morning in July.
Tony and Vicki camped out for three days and two nights to be the first in that bank door to gain their home. Their family and entire community rallied them through that weekend and cheered them on as they realized their homeowning dream. The Ada Herald reported the story on Oct. 26, 1983. The story contains a photo of the family of four in their new home. (See attachment at bottom of this story.)
Thirty-five years later in that same home, gathered around the kitchen counter while birds busily enjoy feeders at the window, Tony and Vicki fondly recall those memories. They finish one another’s sentences, they help each other with details and dates, they are welcoming and charming. Family photos are beautifully displayed in the couple’s warm home. They beam when recalling their children’s school days and chaperoning many trips for band and show choir. Five grandchildren are now also part of the family so school events and family gatherings continue to be the center of their lives.
“We never fight,” they say, going on to explain that when they do disagree about something they either agree to disagree or take some time to think separately and then talk through it together to find a resolution.
“Listen to each other, work it out, put others before yourself, no competition” are all phrases Tony and Vicki shared when asked about secrets of marriage. “Plus, we go everywhere together and do everything together.”
Their parents
They remark that these secrets and traits were learned from both Vicki’s parents (Ernie and Susan Hackworth) and Tony’s parents (Vernon and Angela Wolke) who were married 53 years.
Vicki raves over Tony’s gentlemanly manners, takes pride that her relatives and friends envy her catch, and thinks her first affection was for the protection he offered her.
Tony remarks on Vicki’s band outfit in school days and how pretty she was and still is. Health scares have only brought them closer. Neither can imagine life without the other. They garden together, they go to area sports events often. The phrase “Something always happens” comes up quite often in conversation as they relate zany tales and the trials of life’s ups and downs.
One such tale involves their first honeymoon to Detroit and a subsequent trip to Niagara Falls. The stories unfold and the details spill lovingly forth capturing the listener in their humor and warmth.
Their accomplishments
Tony and Vicki admire each other’s accomplishments, too. She talks of his dedication to his work at ONU and to his family and to helping with chores at home. He nods and smiles and shines adoration in her every direction. “We do whatever we can for each other. We are each other’s best friend. He’s the love of my life, she’s the love of my life.” Compatible is a word they use as well.
From 4th grade to 46 years of marriage, the gray notebook with Vicki inked across it is gone, but something indelible remains. Devotion and love live on in Vicki and Tony Wolke.
