As she pulled heart-shaped cookies from the oven, Agnes Kitzan said the trick to a successful, lengthy marriage is to have open communication and faith.
Posted Feb. 14, 2014
A LIFE OF LOVE & LOYALTY
By BRYCE MARTIN
Pioneer Editor
As she pulled heart-shaped cookies from the oven, Agnes Kitzan said the trick to a successful, lengthy marriage is to have open communication and faith. “It’s a matter of give and take.”
“I’m the taker and she’s the giver,” her husband, Clarence Kitzan, chimed in with a big smile.
The two have been married for 62 years and share the birthday month of April – Agnes will be turning 80 and Clarence will be 83.
Before ending up in Bowman in 1960, the two moved from place-to-place for Clarence’s job and military service, something Agnes said wasn’t as enjoyable, but their marriage thrived no matter where they called home.
“I didn’t run away yet, and neither did he,” Agnes said.
With a large family – three children, seven grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren – Agnes and Clarence make sure to spend adequate time with loved ones, but share a lot of their time together. Still, the two maintain an active life outside of their home.
For 19 years until it closed, the couple owned Bowman Custom Meats west of Bowman. Agnes cleaned the Catholic Church in Bowman in the 1970s and babysat children for $3 a day, which Agnes emphasized. “I thought I had money,” she whispered.
Today, Clarence is still active as a bus driver for Bowman County Schools, which also keeps Agnes busy as she enjoys baking cookies for the children that ride on his route.
The Kitzan love story began in the 1940s – the day the pair met in high school.
They “went together” for three years through high school until Agnes’s mother surprised Agnes with a proposal of her own.
“In our case, there was never a formal proposal (of marriage),” Agnes said. “But we always knew we would marry as soon as I graduated.”
Clarence left for a job in Las Vegas, working for the U.S. National Geodetic Survey, and Agnes’s heart was focused solely on missing her love.
Her mother recognized her daughter’s longing, so she approached Agnes in November 1951 and asked, if she could get it arranged, would Agnes like to get married at Christmastime?
As Agnes described this informal proposal, with a strong laugh, she eyed Clarence endearingly.
“I told Clarence the plan,” she paused, “and he agreed.”
When Clarence returned from Vegas, the two were married in Hebron, two days after Christmas in 1951.
“So it was really my mother who did the proposing,” she chuckled.
As the cookies cooled on their kitchen counter, Agnes and Clarence shared an embrace.
