Fifty years ago on July 19, 1931, Stanley B. Bice and Opal Daniels eloped and were secretly married in the Methodist Church in Papillion, Nebraska. They were married by Reverend John Hall, who in a few months came to Central City and served as pastor of the Methodist Church.
We announced our marriage on Stanley’s birthday, October 17, 1931.
Stanley is the son of William H. Bice and Etta Campbell Bice. He has a brother, Lawrence S. of Paradise, California, and a sister, Ethel Bice Tilley of Grand Island.
My parents were B.D. Daniels and Emily Roark Daniels and I have a brother, Frank Newell of Omaha.
We started married life on the Bice family farm west of Central City. Due to the drought and depression, it was necessary to change our livelihood. Stanley enrolled at the School of Welding in Lincoln, Nebraska, and worked at the Arrow Aircraft Factory. He also was employed at the L.L. Haddix Welding shop until 1942 when he worked at the Cornhusker Army Ordnance Plant in Grand Island. During the war, he was employed in war work in several states. After the war, we located in Denver, Colorado where we lived for thirty-two years until Stanley retired in 1975.
We have one son, Thomas Newell. He married Marilanne Schlupp and they have two children, Melissa Ann and James David.
Stanley worked in heating and air conditioning and was in charge of installing heating and air conditioning in large office buildings and apartment buildings. He also taught classes for eleven years in the Apprenticeship School of Pipefitting, Local Union 208, Denver.
We came to Central City in May 1978 to attend my fifty-year class reunion. While here, the Gary Webster home, probably better known as the George Locke house, was for sale. I had always admired the house as a child, so we bought it and moved from Denver in August.
We’ve been very happy living in our hometown, renewing old acquaintances and making new friends. We have done lots of traveling, but Central City seemed to be the place we liked best. We are very happy “to walk now where we once ran as children.”
We are active members of the Christian Church. Stanley reads, gardens, and golfs and looks forward to our next trip.
I enjoy music, reading, knitting, needlepoint, and crossword puzzles. We both keep busy.
Our son Thomas and his wife Marilanne have been in the antique business in Denver for seven years. They have a store in Denver and do refinishing and restoring, and also do shows in a number of states. Just recently, they bought the former Elgin White house and have moved to Central City. They are also conducting their business from this area. Their moving to this area is one of the happy occasions we’ve had in recent years. It is good to have our family together again.
Submitted by Opal D. Bice
Source: Merrick County Historical Society, History of Merrick County, Nebraska (1981), Volume I, Dallas, Texas : Taylor Publishing Company, 1981.