Tom Duren was not looking for a girlfriend when he went to Hawaii in November 1971.
He was happy enough to be going to a desirable duty station, assigned to the ballistic missile submarine USS Daniel Webster. Tom was an electronics technician and nuclear reactor operator.
Less than a week into his stay, a family friend set Tom up with Ramona Varde, who worked in the repair department at Hawaiian Telephone Co. She wanted to meet a really nice guy.
Tom and Mona met for the first time at a Windy’s Drive-In in Kaneohe.
“I thought she was great looking,” Tom said. “Her hair was so long that she would break every brush I owned.”
Tom and Mona Duren of Edmonds celebrated their 34th wedding anniversary on July 22.
The couple were married July 22, 1972, in Kaneohe, Hawaii.
They have one child and one grandchild.
Tom called Mona the day after they met and the couple went to parties and luaus every weekend for four months. Tom proposed to Mona at a New Year’s Eve party.
Mona’s aunt and uncle sang “The Hawaiian Wedding Song” at the wedding on July 22, 1972, at a tiny country church in the Kahaluu area.
Tom had returned from his first of six submarine patrols. The couple were so close that Tom would call her from the submarine on a short wave radio. To phone would cost $3 per minute.
“We would be underwater for almost three months,” Tom said. “No CNN. No e-mail.”
Tom and Mona left Hawaii in December 1974 when his enlistment in the Navy ended. They moved to Washington and bought Tom’s grandparents’ house in south Everett the following year.
Tom went to work for Chem Nuclear Systems in 1975 until 1979 when he started his own company, Duren Controls.
Mona took some classes at Everett Community College, then went to work at Boeing in production illustration.
Mona gave up her job at Boeing to raise their baby girl and also became bookkeeper for Tom’s new business. The couple have been working together for more than 27 years. Tom says that people are amazed they still get along.
“Life is short,” Tom said. “You need to be nice to each other.”
Mona is always at the window waving goodbye when Tom leaves for work or goes on a business trip. They greet each other with a kiss when coming or going somewhere.
“She cares for everyone,” Tom said.
Tom also often jokes that Mona has a black belt in cooking and he has a brown belt in eating. She cooks a variety of foods, including Hawaiian, Chinese and Filipino, to name a few. Mona also had the nickname years ago as the “banquet lady” because of the variety and volume of foods she cooked for parties.
“One thing I always tell her is that she makes my life complete,” Tom said. “I couldn’t have done it any better.”
Tell us your love story. Call Christina Harper at 425-339-3491 or e-mail harper@heraldnet.com.
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