You never know what life has in store. Call it luck, fate, or God’s plan. Sometimes wonderful things happen, like winning the lottery, but who would’ve thought a seating chart would forever transform the lives of two people?
It happened in 1954, at Madison View High School in Wisconsin. At the start of the new school year, the English teacher assigned seats according to each student’s last name. Ianne and Maurie’s last names began with the letter’s “O” and “P”. A simple act that brought them together, paving the way for a lifetime of road trip adventures.
Maurie was tall, strong, and very caring. Ianne says he had a great sense of humor and lots of friends. Growing up on a farm as an only child, Maurie did his chores and walked to a one room schoolhouse for grade school. He also had an independent streak and wasn’t afraid to take risks.
Ianne was attractive, intelligent, and a hard worker. She grew up in town in a family of 4. Her father worked at the Ray-o-Vac battery factory and her mother attended Normal school and worked in 5 & 10 store. Normal schools were created in Wisconsin to develop teachers and to help people find work outside of farming.
Ianne was by nature more cautious than Maurie, and they complemented each other very well. They were ”two peas in a pod” and spent as much time together as possible. Ianne says it wasn’t acceptable to live together before marriage back then, but if it had been, they would’ve done it!
After high school, they both attended the University of Wisconsin before Maurie got hired at the Madison Gas and Electric Company. Ianne worked in the school district as a secretary and teaching assistant. Soon after starting his new job, Maurie decided it was time to buy a new car.
Now, this was a time when Father Know’s Best and Leave it to Beaver were hit TV shows. He wasn’t married and could’ve bought any car he wanted. A Corvette? A Thunderbird? No need for anyone’s permission. It was a Man’s World, wasn’t it?
No, Maurie brought his girlfriend to the dealership to show her a shiny new 1957 Oldsmobile Super 88. It had a bright red and white paint job, white wall tires, and lots of gleaming chrome. Buying the new car was a stretch for Maurie, but it accomplished what he set out to do. Ianne was impressed. He placed an order for the two-door version of the Oldsmobile with a 371 cu in (6.1 L) Rocket V8 motor. Painted in two-tone red and white colors, just like the one in the showroom.
It’s an impressive car but the fact that the young couple both participated in the decision is even more notable. People spend a lot of time and money on counseling sessions to learn how to communicate and get along, and they seemed to have figured it out on their own.
Later that year, Ianne and Maurie married, and they drove the Super 88 to Florida for their honeymoon. Their route took them down the East Coast of Florida and back up the along the Gulf side. Ianne remembers being pulled over on a Florida highway for speeding. They were nervous, being from out of state, but after Maurie explained they were on their honeymoon, the officer smiled and let them go without a ticket.
On their time off, they continued their road trips in the Oldsmobile, driving it to California, up into Canada, and to the Maritime Provinces. This was before the interstate freeways were completed.
One time, after they finished their workday, they drove across country until they were too tired to drive any further. They pulled off the road and fell asleep in the big front bench seat. Police arrived and startled them awake. Once they saw they were just weary travelers, they bid the couple good night and drove off. By then, they were wide awake and decided they best get back on the road.
Eventually, the Oldsmobile started to have mechanical problems and after ten years they traded it in for a turquoise Chrysler New Yorker. They never knew what happened to their car and Maurie always regretted letting it go. For years he kept looking for the original car, but never found it. Memories of that car were linked to their first experiences as newlyweds. It carried them on their honeymoon and took them on road trips all around the country and Canada.
Decades passed and Maurie and Ianne retired from full time work. Throughout their lives, they continued to explore, and eventually visited all 50 states, by car or in their Mini Winnie Motorhome. Maurie decided to search for a replacement car, watching the online auctions and checking the car sales ads. It took a few years, but at age 76, he found it.
For sale in Texas was a 1957 Oldsmobile Super 88 in the same colors and trim as his original. The car had been restored and looked fantastic! After buying it, they updated the car with A/C and cruise control. They enjoyed taking it to local car shows and driving in parades during the summers.
Evan a trip to town was a special event in the car, reminding them of carefree days, when they were young and first started their life journey together. Unfortunately, Maurie contracted Parkinson’s Disease and it began to limit his mobility. When the disease worsened, he still liked to ride in the Super 88 on warm summer days, even if it was only to drive it out on their long driveway.
I spoke with their son, Eric, to get his input for this story. He wasn’t born when they had the first Super 88 but saw the joy in their eyes when they found the replacement. He said, “It was like going back to the 50’s, gorgeous automobile with a classic mid-century look of art and function. It had a big throaty engine sound and riding in it felt like driving on a big sofa.”
His parents were always supportive, and he learned many life lessons from them. For example, “If you work really hard with what you have, you’ll be successful.” They passed on their Mid-West values, and his dad encouraged him to take risks, like he did in life. “Make your own destiny.”
Maurie passed in November of 2022. He was a good father, had many friends, and helped a lot of people in his long life. But his greatest joy was to be seated next to his future wife in that fateful high school English class. Their marriage lasted 65 years and Ianne was at his side till the very end.
If the original car could’ve talked in 1957, it would have said to the young couple, “Your off on a hell of an adventure!”