Wynscape grants wish of Wheaton couple married 67 years

WHEATON – John and Ethel Legg met on a train car almost 75 years ago.

The two hit it off during their chance conversation on the way to a national teen Episcopal convention in Kansas City – so much so that John mustered up the courage to ask her on a date.

To ensure his success, he used a secret weapon: his wood carving skills. He took a small piece of wood and made it in her likeness – complete with the outfit she was wearing when they first met.

“It just kind of occurred to me – we had a nice date, I liked her, so I decided I’d make her a pin,” said the 95-year-old in a recent interview. “Amazingly, she agreed.”

They’ve been together since.

“They were Depression days, so you took what you got,” said Ethel, now 94, ribbing her husband.

The couple married after five years, but spent four of them apart – Ethel taught at a Native American reservation in South Dakota for a year and John spent three serving in the Army. He sold his cigarette cartons to Italians and Algerians from the bases where he was stationed to buy a wedding ring.

Their lives as a middle school teacher and a printer with children and grandchildren were busy, but the two stayed together, using humor and a “very high sense of tolerance,” John said.

“Thank you, dear,” Ethel said, deadpan glaring.

The two now live at Wheaton’s Wynscape Health and Rehab. Though they have separate rooms, John visits Ethel every night to tuck her in, said Wynscape Life Enrichment Coordinator Jennifer Franck.

That love was the reason the pair was chosen as the first participants in the home’s new Sharing Moments wish granting program March 22.

With the help of staff, Ethel planned a romantic evening, including food from John’s favorite restaurant, the aptly named yet unaffiliated John’s Place in Winfield. A wood carver gave a lecture on the craft and violinists played throughout the dinner.

John didn’t find out until the night before the dinner, and staff said he couldn’t sleep out of excitement.

As an extra surprise, staff invited friends and family over before dinner for a special cocktail hour of “mantinis” and “ladyhattens,” said staff member and co-planner Kristen Pingel.

The effort staff put into the project was meaningful, not only for the couple, but for those who know them, said son-in-law Ken Miller, who is married to John and Ethel’s daughter, Charlotte.

“John and Ethel are lucky,” he said. “They’ve got family here that take them out and do a lot of things similar to this, but the staff became very excited and very involved in this program. They had seven senior staff members over here on a Friday night. And they weren’t just there, they were excited about it.”

The staff really got behind planning the event, Franck said, spending time outside work booking the woodcarver and inviting guests.

Franck said Wynscape hopes to fill wish grants, which are funded through the Wyndemere Foundation and community donations, every month for long-term residents.

“Just the look on their faces, that’s what it means to us. That’s what we were hoping to accomplish with this program,” Franck said. “They’ve got so many special memories already, if we could add one more, that was what was important to us.”

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