Jeanne Stipek was roller-skating in Seattle when Bob Kile came by and asked her where he could put his hat.
She told him about the check station and motioned toward it. Bob took his hat off and gave her a big bow of thanks.
“It was really something,” Jeanne said.
Bob asked if he could come to her house the next day. She said no, but he turned up anyway. He was persistent.
Bob and Jeanne were at Woodland Park Zoo one night just a few weeks after they met. They sat down by the monkey island, which is now home to the seals.
“We sat on a bench and he said, ‘When are you going to marry me?’ ” Jeanne said. “We got married the next Saturday night.”
Harry Robert “Bob” and Jeanne Kile of Marysville celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary March 31 with a gathering at their home.
The couple were married March 31, 1945, at First Methodist Church in Seattle.
Bob was in the Navy waiting for the aircraft carrier USS Bairoko to be commissioned when he met Jeanne. He had been on the USS Princeton carrier when it sank Oct. 24, 1944. He was trying to put his life jacket on in the water but another sailor who couldn’t swim as well kept pulling at Bob’s lifejacket. Bob gave the sailor the life jacket.
He spent four hours in the water before hearing guns being fired toward them. It looked like the men would be killed rather than picked up. Only later did Bob learn that the rescuers had been shooting at sharks.
After 30 days survivor leave in Harmony, Pa., Bob was ordered to Bremerton. He met Jeanne, fell in love and they were married.
The couple moved back to Pennsylvania. Bob shipped out in July, and Jeanne remained behind with his grandmother.
“I was so homesick,” Jeanne said.
She moved back to the Northwest, moved in with her parents, and waited until Bob returned six months later.
Bob and Jeanne raised seven children. They have 23 grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.
The couple like to sing country music. When they were going together, they would sing while walking down the street. One song they particularly like was “It Had to Be You.”
Bob has been a loving husband who has stood behind what Jeanne has said while raising their children. Their secret is to make each other happy.
“I still adore him,” Jeanne said. “And I know he does me.”
Reporter Christina Harper: 425-339-3491 or harper@heraldnet.com.
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