Frances Manus still remembers what it was about her husband that she fell for: his dark curly hair and big smile. Louis thought she was pretty.
The couple met at First Baptist Church in Pullman, when Frances was in high school and Louis was a freshman at Washington State University, then Washington State College.
She grew up in Pullman. He grew up in Lynden.
They enjoyed going to movies and would walk since they didn’t have a car. They did a lot of walking on the railroad line between Pullman and Moscow, too.
They also went to dances. Frances was a physical education major, unusual for that time.
Frances and Louis courted through her college years and got engaged after he graduated.
Just after their engagement announcement, Louis went to Morgantown, W. Va., where he had been accepted as a graduate student in dairy manufacturing.
Frances dropped out her last semester, and with her older sister as chaperone, traveled by bus to her grandparents’ home in North Carolina so she and Louis could be married.
Louis and Frances Manus of Marysville celebrated their 72nd wedding anniversary Aug. 1. They were married Aug. 1, 1933.
It was the middle of the Depression, and Louis had his graduate stipend cut. There was barely enough to live on.
Louis was in the Army Reserves. He was called to active duty in July 1941. The family, now with two children, moved to Mississippi. The next two years, the family moved from base to base across the South. The couple’s third child was born in Georgia.
When Louis received word that he would be shipped overseas, Frances brought the children back to Pullman, where she lived in a little house next to her parents.
Louis served as a supply officer for the 99th Infantry Division in Europe, where he participated in the infamous Battle of the Bulge.
After the war, he came back and earned his doctorate at WSU. He joined the faculty of the dairy manufacturing department (now called food sciences). For the next 26 years, he taught students how to make WSU’s famous ice cream, cheeses, butter and other dairy delights. He retired as an associate professor in 1974. After retiring, he and Frances moved to Marysville.
In the mid-1960s, the couple joined a group of WSU faculty members in a faculty exchange program with the University of West Pakistan. They lived in Pakistan for 18 months, followed by a trip around the world.
Louis and Frances have three children, seven grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
Church and community have always playeda big part in their lives. They were active in Pullman’s First Baptist Church, where Frances grew up, and also at Everett First Baptist Church. They moved to Marysville in 1974 and Frances joined the Log Cabin Club (library) and took classes at Everett Community College. Louis volunteered at Marysville-Pilchuck High School in his 80s. He continued bowling until he was 91.
The couple were both active in the Republican Party. Several years ago, they set up a scholarship fund at WSU for students majoring in food sciences.
Both Louis and Frances say that a strong trust in one another and a lot of faith and prayer help make a marriage long and strong.
Louis says Frances has always been dependable and loving.
Louis has always been someone whom she could trust, love and depend on, Frances said, adding that he is a gentle man.
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