Mostly clear this evening followed by increasing clouds and some light snow after midnight. Low 8F. Winds SSW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of snow 70%. Snow accumulations less than one inch.
Merle and Sharon Wiskus, Epworth, are center stage on the dance floor while Sounds of Nashville play during the monthly dance at Delhi’s American Legion.
Dotti Cleghorn, 95, dances with birthday-boy Don Porter, 87, during the monthly dance at Delhi’s American Legion with live country music from The Sounds of Nashville. To their left is Veryl Kelley, 82, and Susie Ballentine, 79, and right is Sharon and Dennis Reth.
Sounds of Nashville band members: from left, Jim Klein, Bob Richards and Gene Hansel test their equipment prior to playing at Delhi’s American Legion, Jan 16, 2023. The three-piece band is one of the oldest in Iowa. Klein, 80, and Hansel, 81, have been playing together since 1971.
Bill, 83,and Marlene, 85, Feltes said they met at a dance 65 years ago and have been dancing ever since. Unlike most of the couples, Bill said he only dances with his wife of 62 years.
Veryl Kelley,82, and Susie Ballentine,79, Epworth, move across the floor during the monthly dance at Delhi’s American Legion. Both lost their spouses and have found joy and companionship dancing together.
Like most at the monthly dance at Delhi’s American Legion with live music from the three-piece band Sounds of Nashville, Barb Sauser is having a good time.
Merle and Sharon Wiskus, Epworth, are center stage on the dance floor while Sounds of Nashville play during the monthly dance at Delhi’s American Legion.
Dotti Cleghorn, 95, dances with birthday-boy Don Porter, 87, during the monthly dance at Delhi’s American Legion with live country music from The Sounds of Nashville. To their left is Veryl Kelley, 82, and Susie Ballentine, 79, and right is Sharon and Dennis Reth.
Sounds of Nashville band members: from left, Jim Klein, Bob Richards and Gene Hansel test their equipment prior to playing at Delhi’s American Legion, Jan 16, 2023. The three-piece band is one of the oldest in Iowa. Klein, 80, and Hansel, 81, have been playing together since 1971.
Bill, 83,and Marlene, 85, Feltes said they met at a dance 65 years ago and have been dancing ever since. Unlike most of the couples, Bill said he only dances with his wife of 62 years.
Veryl Kelley,82, and Susie Ballentine,79, Epworth, move across the floor during the monthly dance at Delhi’s American Legion. Both lost their spouses and have found joy and companionship dancing together.
Like most at the monthly dance at Delhi’s American Legion with live music from the three-piece band Sounds of Nashville, Barb Sauser is having a good time.
Marian Peters began attending dances when she was just 14. Now at 79, she is still on the dance floor when she is not working behind the scenes as president of American Legion Ladies Auxiliary Post 160 in Delhi.
Peters is one of the driving forces keeping the Delhi American Legion dance thriving, scheduling and booking dances for the past 10 years.
“We didn’t have dances for years, and then about 10 years ago we started up again,” she said. Peters remembers when the building was abandoned and in terrible disrepair. But thanks to a lot of helpers, they put in new furnaces, a new roof, and a new dance floor, to name a few of the improvements.
“Dances like this are a thing of the past,” she said. “Look around, you don’t see any young people.”
Peters added that there was a time most small towns, Manchester, Cascade and Worthington, where she is from, held Sunday dances.
“Now we are the only one in the area, and people come from all over, Iowa City, Cedar Rapids and Dubuque.”
Jan. 15 the past came alive in the present as one of Iowa’s oldest bands, “Sounds of Nashville,” with 80-year-old Jim Klein, 81-year-old Gene Hansel and Bob Richards, the youngster at 67, played the entire four-hour session.
Many singles get together after their spouses have passed to dance and socialize with old friends. Veryl Kelley, 82, said he and his dancing partner, Susie Ballentine, 79, had both lost their spouses. Birthday boy, Don Porter, 87, moving across the dance floor with his partner Dotti Cleghorn, 95, said they love dancing and often go to Branson, Mo., to listen to music and dance.
Bob Lee, 84, who lost his wife, Grace, three years ago, found a regular dancing partner in Marge Bergfeld, 85. Bergfeld’s husband died 37 years earlier. The pair never miss a dance, often traveling considerable distances, sometimes several times weekly. Though the two often go together to dances, Bob said, “I dance with all the gals.”
But there were also married couples, like Bill and Marlene Feltes, together for 62 years. The couple never seemed to miss a song. Bill, 83, and Marlene, 85, said “We met 65 years ago at a dance and we have been dancing ever since.”
On Jan. 15, Peters said there were 64 who paid the $10 at the door, a larger than normal crowd. And as a birthday gesture, Bob Lee, who turned 84 a few days earlier — wrote a $100 check to buy sandwiches for all who wanted them.
The Delhi dance, with Sounds of Nashville, booked for each session, is scheduled one Sunday monthly, from 1-5 p.m. The next dance will be Feb. 12.
As one longtime organizer said, “this is a dying thing. Many couples get together after their spouses have passed. It is a social thing. But there are those who have been married six and seven decades that still come together.”
Since most patrons are in their 70s or 80s, she fears these types of dances are a dying thing, a nostalgic part of the past for many.
