Words of love

For a Prophetstown couple, there’s no rhyme like the present to celebrate their love

Some people rip through wrapping paper to get to a gift inside. Penny Boseneiler flips through a newspaper paper to find hers.

As her birthday draws near each year on March 17, she picks up a copy of the Gazette to find a one-of-a-kind gift from her husband, Terry.

The man she’s been married to for 38 years loves his wife, and he isn’t afraid to let everyone know — and he does it with a poem he has printed in the local newspaper.

“It’s your birthday but the gift is mine. Having you for a wife is like getting fine wine.”

But Terry isn’t the only newsprint poet in the house. As the couple’s anniversary draws near on June 30, he picks up the paper to find a poem from Penny.

“I feel we have a closeness other couples seldom do, and I’m sure the bestest husband in the whole wide world is you!”

Their mutual love letters are a tradition the Boseneilers have religiously done year after year since they’ve been married, and each year brings a new appreciation for each other. The poems have not only become much-anticipated by Terry, 75, and Penny, 69, but also their friends, family and fellow church congregants, who look forward to perusing the pages for their poems.

Take it from a couple who is proud of their prose: As Terry likes to point out to those who ask, marriage is not a “50-50” arrangement, but rather a “100-100” one.

There’s more than just the written word that keeps the Boseneilers’ romance going strong; there’s so much extra, so let’s read all about it ...

How long have you been writing these neat works?

PENNY: What it was, was when we first met, in 1975, he had asked me when my birthday was. I thought, “he’s going to buy me something, and I do not want anything.” So I wouldn’t tell him. Then he found out. After the first year we met, he started writing the poems. Then when we got married, I thought, “I’ll do a poem on our anniversary.” I’ve been doing them ever since, and he has continued it, too. The first ones I had didn’t have a lot in them, it was just the idea of getting it in there.

TERRY: So I’ve been doing it for 47 years, and they’re always original. No copying of anything, they’re something I think of. I have a good subject, so it’s always easy to think something up.

What are your thought processes in coming up with what your write?

TERRY: I try to make it rhyme. As far as anything specific, it just has to be something that I can relate to her. A lot of times, it will be whatever the age is, like what would rhyme with 69, so I would put in her age. When we decided to get married, we were one of the first couples married when our church [Harvest Time Bible Church in Rock Falls] got started. We were one of the first couples that the pastor, Dalmus Meeks, counseled before we got married. One of the things he said was that you always want to keep the honey in the honeymoon. All of this is kind of the idea. I have a lot of men that get mad at me, because their wives wonder why they don’t do this.

PENNY: It’s spontaneous. Terry takes maybe five minutes, maybe, at the most to write these. It takes me hours and hours. Then if I get ambitious, I get them done a week ahead and keep revising it to try to make it work. We always try to put “I still do” as a precious moment with rings, or “I love you more!”

Or, “thank you for keeping the honey in the honeymoon,” which is what Dalmus had said. Sometimes I’ll try to put Dalmus in there, too, because he came out and we got married out on our back porch.

Do you find yourselves learning from one another when it comes to spending time together?

PENNY: He’s always been polite, been an open door, has done things for me and is considerate. He asks, “Why did you marry me?” and I always say, “Because you’re nice.” It’s polite, the different things you do. I always keep telling him, “You don’t have to buy me anything, just keep doing the poem.”

TERRY: One thing no one will believe is that, in all this time we’ve been together, she has never gotten mad at me. Never said any harsh word to me. Not once. Biblically, it says you’re not supposed to go to bed mad. Of course I get upset sometimes, but she’s always said the only thing worth fighting for is if I would do something immoral. Other than that, there’s nothing worth fighting over. Most people don’t believe she’s never gotten mad or said a harsh word to me.

WORDS cont’d to page 38