Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
PROVO — Running through sprinklers, writing love notes and going back to where they first met are just a few of the activities a Provo couple has done each day for a full year to celebrate their upcoming 50th wedding anniversary.
Allen and Nancy Ostergar met while they were both attending Brigham Young University. They had a mutual friend who set them up on a date.
“I was hoping the friend would ask me out, and he said, ‘Do you want to go out with my roommate?’ And I said ‘Oh, OK,’ ” Nancy Ostergar said laughing. “But, it worked out very well.”
The Ostergars were married Aug. 7, 1965. Since then, they have had nine children, and while Provo has primarily been their home for the past 50 years, they have also lived in Kentucky and Brazil for Allen Ostergar’s LDS Church assignments.
In 2014, Allen Ostergar said people kept asking them what they were going to do to celebrate their upcoming 50th wedding anniversary.
“So we were talking about it one day and Nancy came up with the idea, ‘Well instead of celebrating on that day, which we will do anyway, let’s do something everyday for the next year,’ “ he said.
“It’s elevating our everyday kind of celebrations,” Nancy Ostergar said. “Thinking about all the things we’ve done and gone through in 50 years, it’s been really fun.”
Nancy Ostergar
The couple has done sentimental activities during their year-long celebration, like visiting the spot where they had their first kiss and visiting the LDS temple where they were married. However, they have also done more light-hearted activities like swinging on swings, watching clouds while laying in a hammock, listening to music released in 1965 and playing jacks.
“He’s really good,” Nancy Ostergar added. “I never played growing up, but he’s a master jack player. He’s still got it. We played hopscotch one day, but neither of us could do that. And we had a paper airplane race, which I won.”
Allen Ostergar said some of the activities were inspired by an article of date ideas. Their children and family also recommended some of their daily activities which they have documented on their Instagram account.
When their anniversary was within 100 days, the Ostergars created a paper-link chain to countdown to the date.
“The best part about it is, some of the things are really simple and dumb, but we remember it and talk about things,” Allen Ostergar said.
He said some of the best advice he has for couples is to remember to court throughout your marriage.
“You have to court everyday of your marriage,” he said. “Continually court. We make all this effort before we are married to look nice and smell nice and do fun things and that has to continue after marriage.”
Nancy Ostergar
