John and Esther Spaeth will celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary on June 15 with an open house hosted by their children at Trinity Lutheran Church in Jenera from 2-5 p.m.

They were married there by Pastor Donald Laude on June 15, 1964. John and Esther (Smith) were neighbors who attended Trinity. They had their first date after being on a Luther Society picnic committee together.

Parents of the couple are the late William and Doris (Wilch) Spaeth and Byron and Florence (Wilson) Smith. Both Esther and John are retired educators. Esther taught at Arlington School and Trinity Lutheran. John taught at Winthrop, Minn., and Cory-Rawson. Later he was middle school principal at Cory-Rawson Schools, Middle School Supervisor at the Hancock ESC and superintendent of Vanlue School.

The Spaeth family includes Becky and Bob Warren, Rachel Stahl (deceased), Doug and Marilyn Stahl, Kathy and James Miles, Krista and Shawn Rutherford and Mark and Emily Spaeth. Grandchildren include Brittany and Brent Warren, Heather and Stephanie Warren (deceased), Wyatt and Savannah Stahl, Jerry, Faith and Noah Kindig, Jamey, Jacob and Abbey Miles, Alissa, Brice, Katelin and Levi Rutherford, and Madi and Molly Spaeth.