POWELL, Wyo. (AP) - On the morning of July 20, 1933, a doctor in rural Powell, Wyoming, delivered a baby boy named Don Faxon. Hours later, the doctor was called to another Powell home and delivered a baby girl, Janie Anderson.
The two would end up sharing more than just a birthday - they have shared a lifetime together.
The couple celebrated their 65th wedding anniversary in June and their 83rd birthdays a month later.
“We’ve had a lot of good times together,” said Janie (Anderson) Faxon.
EARLY YEARS
Don and Janie don’t remember exactly when they met.
“Probably around the first grade,” Janie said.
While they knew one another growing up in Powell schools, Janie and Don weren’t close friends in their early years.
In junior high, “we got to be more friendly,” she said.
“We started going together when we were freshmen,” Janie said. “We went together pretty much all the way through high school, and two weeks after we graduated, we got married.”
They were just 17 years old when they said, “I do.”
“Everybody thought we were too young, and we probably were,” Janie said. “But something worked. We’re still together.”
They got married on June 12, 1951, and shared an anniversary with Don’s parents, Hazel and Cheney Faxon.
Don and Janie exchanged vows in a small wedding ceremony at Janie’s family home east of Powell - just down the road from where the couple lives today.
For their honeymoon, the newlyweds went to a North Fork cabin, then to Yellowstone National Park and on to Sun Valley, Idaho.
“And then we came back and went to farming and we’ve never quit,” Don said with a laugh.
FAMILY AND FARMING
Don started farming a couple hundred acres at first, and eventually, that increased to a couple thousand acres. The Faxons raised a lot of sheep and grew beans and radish seed varieties in the early years.
Over the decades, Janie happily worked alongside her husband on the family’s farm.
“We had a lot of the same interests. We both grew up on a farm,” she said. “All he ever wanted to do was farm, and that’s all I really knew, too.”
That legacy continued, as the couple raised their children on the family farm north of Powell.
From 1952 to 1962, they had five children - Jerry, Vicki, Gloria, Andy and Lynda.
Janie said she’s thankful they raised their kids on the farm. There was always something for them to do. As the kids grew, they also stayed busy with school activities, which meant a lot of taxiing back and forth into town.
The years flew by.
“Somehow you think it’s lagging along, but when you get past it, it’s went so fast, you don’t know what to do,” Janie said.
Today, the couple’s son, Jerry, and grandson, Paul, continue to farm the same ground that’s been in the family for decades.
Paul and his family live in the home where Don and Janie lived for many years. Before that, Don’s grandparents owned the place.
“There’s been six generations that have lived in that house,” Don said.
The family ties are strong. Don and Janie live on the land her grandparents homesteaded in the early 1900s.
Farming is all Don ever thought of doing, Janie said.
“It’s been good to us,” she said.
Over the years, their family has grown to include 16 grandchildren, 15 great-grandchildren and two great-great grandchildren.
“So our family is growing all the time,” Janie said.
’WE’VE ALWAYS BEEN GOOD FRIENDS’
While Don and Janie have spent almost their entire lives in Powell, the couple went to Arizona for 22 winters until this year.
“We enjoyed that, getting away from the ice and snow,” Janie said.
Unfortunately, this winter has been one of the worst in recent memory.
“And here we are,” Don laughed.
Don has a quiet, easygoing disposition.
“He’s easy to live with, and he’s always been good to us,” Janie said.
She told her granddaughters that she hopes they find a husband like their grandfather.
Janie told them: “If you can find as good a man as I did, then you’ll be OK, but don’t get in a rush.”
As Don and Janie reflected on their marriage of more than 65 years, they said they’ve gotten along well through the decades.
“I guess we don’t fight with each other, do we?” Don said.
“No, we don’t really fight,” Janie said.
In addition to sharing similar interests, the couple also works well together. Their friendship has spanned more than 70 years.
“We’ve always been good friends,” Janie said. “I think you have to be.”
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Information from: Powell (Wyo.) Tribune, https://www.powelltribune.com
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