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January 16, 2005
Koogle — 60th
George and Arliss Koogle of Hays will celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary with an open house from 2 to 4 p.m. on Jan. 23 at their home in Hays. Hosts for the event will be their children, George Koogle Jr. of Edmond, Okla. and Sally D. Schmidt and her husband, Elmer E. of Hays. George Koogle of Great Bend and Arliss A. Belts of Newton were married Jan. 24, 1945, at the home of the bride’s sister in Great Bend. The Rev. James H. Behler, Christian minister, officiated. George and Arliss lived in Great Bend 44 years before moving to Hays in January of 1989. Before the couple’s retirement, George was owner of the Star Cleaners and Tux Shop in Great Bend. Arliss was an assistant cashier at the First National Bank in Great Bend, later assisting her husband in his business. The family of George and Arliss take great pleasure in honoring the couple’s 60 years of love and commitment to each other. They invite friends and relatives to join in sending cards to the couple at 1723 Anthony Drive, Hays, Kan. or attending the open house. The couple request no gifts.
Feb 13, 2015
Koogle - 70th
Romantic movies like “The Notebook” and “Dear John” might need to move aside to make room for the real-life love story belonging to a few local Kansans as Valentine’s Day approaches.
Arliss, 89, and George Koogle, 91, Hays, recently celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary, commemorating a lifetime of memories filled with tears, laughter, heartbreak and love.
During the past seven decades, the Koogles have unknowingly been star actors in a story that falls nowhere short of a fairy tale.
As a teenager, George was employed by A.B.C. Drug Store in Great Bend.
“I would come out and visit George while he worked,” Arliss said. “I drank a lot of cherry Cokes.”
She liked everything about him from the first moment she saw him, she said.
“He was just about the most handsome man I had ever seen,” she said. “I just knew he was the one and that I was gonna get him.”
The two created a bond that grew day after day.
“I just drank Cokes, and he talked and I talked,” Arliss said.
Many moments of laughter, long conversations and cherry Cokes later, George enlisted in the U.S. Marines at age 19.
The Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, approximately eight months before he joined in August 1942.
“I knew the train was coming to take him away, but it was late and raining so my folks said I couldn’t go to say goodbye,” Arliss said. “I figured that was kind of the end of things.”
Little did they know, it was nowhere close to the end. Determined to keep George in her life, Arliss began to write letters.
“We wrote a lot of letters,” George said. “It went on for two years.”
They committed to writing back and forth.
“Letters came almost every day,” Arliss said.
Each response she received from George was carefully saved away in a scrapbook.
Near the end of the two years, George’s loved ones began to worry when they didn’t hear from him.
On New Year’s Eve, Arliss didn’t feel much like celebrating and spent the holiday at home. Then, the phone rang.
“Both of my parents just froze,” she said. “They knew.”
Home on a one-month leave, George surprised everyone and asked to speak with Arliss.
She anxiously held the phone to her ear as he said, “I’m getting on a train and coming out to see you.”
“I was just numb,” she said.
Only a few short weeks later, the two were married by candlelight in front of a fireplace at the home of Arliss’ sister in Great Bend on Jan. 24, 1945.
“I didn’t know much about him, and he didn’t know much about me. But we knew enough to be sure,” Arliss said.
From there, the couple began building a blissful life. They had two children, George Jr. and Sally, exactly eight years apart - both born on Feb. 19.
Life moved forward and years later, the couple relocated to Hays to be closer to Sally, a former Fort Hays State University nursing professor who was suffering from a severe, unclassified illness.
On Dec. 12, 2010, the couple lost a love of their life, as Sally died in her sleep from what was eventually determined to be Crohn’s disease.
“She dealt with a lot of illness in her life, but she was determined and never gave up,” George said.
“She just went to bed one Saturday night and didn’t wake up,” Arliss said.
The couple said the loss of their daughter was the most difficult situation they had ever encountered.
“I don’t think you ever really get over it,” Arliss said as she dabbed tears away.
Through determination, commitment, fearlessness and sacrifice, the couple faced life’s heartbreaking obstacles, only growing closer as one, proving that beating the odds is attainable.
“We blended from the beginning,” Arliss said. “It’s like we have just meshed together.”
“I have never even really thought about us being apart,” George said.
The couple lives in Hays and plans to spend Valentine’s Day watching KU basketball together, as they are avid fans.
“Our dream is to one day be able to go watch a live KU basketball game,” Arliss said.
Forever dreaming together. Forever caring for each other. Forever committing to one another.
“I just know I love him and he loves me,” Arliss said. “You hear those songs and read those stories about people falling in love, but it was really true for George and I.”
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[Obituary of Arliss Koogle: "Arliss Ann Koogle, age 93, of Hays and formerly Great Bend, passed away on Tuesday, January 8, 2019 at HaysMed. She was born on July 8, 1925 in Newton, KS to Ernest and Cora Belts. Arliss graduated from Newton High School. She was united in marriage on January 24, 1945 in Great Bend to George Koogle, Sr. Together, they shared almost 74 years of marriage. Arliss worked as a Bank Teller for numerous years. She then joined her husband owning and operating Star Cleaners in Great Bend. She enjoyed flowers, gardening and canning vegetables. Survivors include her husband, George Koogle, Sr. of Hays; son, George Koogle, Jr. of Edmond, OK; son-in-law, Elmer Schmidt of Hays. She was preceded in death by her parents; daughter, Sally Schmidt; one brother and three sisters. Cremation has taken place and no services are planned. Inurnment will take place at St. Joseph Cemetery, Hays. Arrangements are by Brock’s-Keithley Funeral Chapel & Crematory, 2509 Vine St., Hays, KS 67601."]
