A wonderful story of love at the Iowa State Fair

I have now attended the Iowa State Fair every year but one since 1998. And I have camped at the Iowa State Fair every year since 2004.

Those who follow me know my story of meeting Debbie in 2003 while doing a newspaper story on Iowa State Fair campers from the Montezuma area.

It’s a story of a match made in heaven that gets better every year.

I learned about the campground almost by accident.

The first year I attended the Iowa State Fair, I got on the wrong tram and ended up in the campground.

I didn’t have my hand stamped at the entry gate and almost had to pay to get back into the fair from the campgrounds to get to the parking lot.

The ticket seller had pity on me and let me in the fairgrounds.

After surviving that ordeal, I made my way down the grand concourse where I found a couple of police officers on a golf cart.

I asked for directions to the parking lot, and they offered me a ride. Then I hung on for dear life as we sped down the grand concourse.

It’s funny looking back on all that.

Fast forward a few years to 2003. I was at the Montezuma Republican office and was looking for story ideas. I thought a story on state fair campers from the Montezuma area would make a great story and a fun project.

So, on the first Saturday of the fair that year, I made my way to Des Moines. I ended up at the campsites of Raymond and Connie Thompson and Myron and Tina Widmer, where I spent the afternoon.

They had an outdoor sink and refrigerator at their campsite at the time and were grilling hamburgers. I was invited to join the families for supper.

I returned to the campgrounds the next Tuesday, Aug. 12.

While walking around the campground, I saw Debbie standing by her camper.

We looked at each other. I don’t recall saying much.

I then returned to the campsites of the Thompson and Widmer families, which was just up the road from the Tindle campsite, and asked about her.

“That’s Debbie, our neighbor,” said Connie. “She’s a nice girl.”

Later in the week, I met Debbie’s grandmother, Louise Smothers Tindle, and her mother, Carole, who I interviewed for my story.

I was at the camper of Farrell and Iona Johnson, which was behind the Tindle camper and one spot to the south.

Debbie, Carole and Louise were outside the camper under the awning.

Iona said something about that being three generations and that I should go take a photo, which I did.

Debbie offered me a Pepsi and captured my heart.

I returned to the state fair campground the last weekend of the fair and stayed in the Eugene and Mary Lou Mann camper. That gave me a chance to meet and interview more fine folks and families from Montezuma.

I wrote and published the story a week later in the Montezuma Republican.

Debbie sent me a card thanking me and for including her family in my story. And later in September, while I was at a photography workshop in Missouri, she sent me a birthday card.

To make a long story short, I was a little slow responding to her.

We went on our first date on Nov. 9, 2003.

I took her to Walmart in Newton and then to a Mexican restaurant on our first date.

It wasn’t my finest moment in life, but Debbie hung in there with me and the dates got better.

I proposed to Debbie May 1, 2004 in Hannibal, Missouri in the city park along the Mississippi River.

On one of our earlier dates, we had talked about our love for Mark Twain and Hannibal. It just happened that Debbie loves visiting Hannibal and so do I.

We were married Sept. 25, 2004, and every August since we have spent time at the Iowa State Fair. This is our 22nd year of camping at the fair.

Two years ago, we were featured in a display at the Iowa State Fair Ralph H. Deets Historical Museum about couple’s who had found love at the Iowa State Fair.

Since getting married, we have published eight books — two Iowa photo books, four romantic suspense books in the Hope Series, a novella about an Iowa town who almost didn’t have Christmas and my newspaper column book entitled “Good Things are Happening.”

This September we will host our 13th All-Iowa Writers’ Conference in Montezuma. And I continue covering the news all across the county, including 26 Poweshiek County Fairs since coming to Montezuma.

We survived my colon cancer journey together earlier this year and I’m thankful that Debbie was by my side.

I’m so blessed and thankful for every moment and breath that life offers.

I hope you enjoy some time at the Iowa State Fair.

Have a great week, and always remember that “Good Things are Happening” every day.