Always Sweethearts
By Brandy Nance
Originally published 02:37 p.m., October 22, 2007
Updated 02:37 p.m., October 22, 2007
For former Emporians Dale and Bernie Roller, the legend of Wooster Bridge on Emporia State University’s campus holds true.
The legend of Wooster Bridge is this: The person you kiss on the bridge at midnight will be the person you marry, and that a marriage proposal on the bridge will assure a long and happy marriage. The Rollers, who now live in Leavenworth, shared their first kiss on the bridge in the summer of 1956. A year later, they were married, and 50 years later, they are still together, just as the legend said they would be.
Dale (class of 1957) and Bernie Roller shared a very quick first kiss on the bridge, Bernie Roller said. It was 10:29 p.m. and the curfew for Bernie Roller was 10:30 p.m. because she lived in the dorms. She was at ESU studying elementary education. Dale Roller was studying music.
There were 21 couples from the Class of 1957 from Emporia State University who married. Twenty of those couples are still together. The 21st couple was separated only by the death of one of the partners.
At ESU’s Homecoming over the weekend, some of the surviving couples were invited to relive their college days and share a kiss on Wooster Bridge. The Rollers relived a lot of memories at Homecoming, including eating at the Chicken House in Olpe, Bernie Roller said.
Several of the couples were among more than 100 other 1957 graduates who spent Saturday evening at the class’s 50th reunion. The reunion included a dinner, a dance and, of course, a trip to Wooster Bridge for all those who wanted to re-live the legend.
During the program, Bob and Donna Umbarger of Garnett, one of the 21 couples, spoke to the group in the Kanza Room in the Memorial Union.
“This is somewhat of a record nationally,” Donna Umbarger said, adding that with the national divorce rate around 50 percent, the fact that all of the couples stayed married is amazing.
Donna Umbarger said Wooster Bridge has been the site of many proposals and first kisses.
“Bob and I were talking about this,” she said to the group. “And we thought ‘Well, we missed out.’”
Umbarger invited the other couples to join them on Wooster Bridge for a smooch to start off the next 50 years.
The class of 1957’s 50th reunion Saturday evening was a record in itself. Robert Chatham, chair of the reunion committee, said 69 people from a graduating class of 368 (238 men and 130 women total) attended the 40th reunion in 1997. This year, the group set a goal of 100 people for the 50th and they surpassed that with about 120 alumni.
ESU president Michael Lane commented on the large turnout.
“This is an incredible turnout for a 50th reunion,” he told the group. Lane added that he’s never been to a 50th reunion where there we so many alumni that showed up.
Ann King Reynolds, daughter of John King, who was ESU president from 1953 to 1966, presented a special message to the Class of 1957. King read a letter from her father, who could not attend. King said her parents are 94 and 96 years old and are now retired.
“Daddy is the same man you knew,” Ann King said, adding that her dad still believes that men should wear T-shirts while playing tennis. This comment brought a response of chuckles and head nods. King then read from her father’s letter.
“On this occasion of your 50th reunion, it gives me great pleasure and pride to thank you for your loyalty to ESU in hailing this occasion by your presence,” John King said in his letter. “The pleasure comes from the memories that we share of the times we spent with Emporia State people and situations together.”
King complimented the class of 1957.
“You were a great class in a most critical time for ESU,” he wrote in his letter. “You were good-natured in both small and large groups. You made me proud of you by defeating Harvard in debate, by producing more graduates who would earn PhD’s in biological and physical sciences that both of the Kansas flagship land grant universities; by choosing our campus if you were the first person in your family to attend college and by the fact that our own daughter, Ann chose to be a member of your class over several other options.”
At the end of Saturday’s program, the Class of 1957 presented the ESU Foundation with a $10,000 check to be used for education majors.