First dates: Lifelong valentines look back at their first dates after decades of marriage

Kevin Lynch, Wooster Daily Record

MILLERSBURG − As Valentine's Day approaches, love is in the air, and a few folks from the Holmes County community shared memories from their first date.

Commissioner Dave Hall was quick to recall his first date with his wife, Anita, which included dinner and a movie at an Italian restaurant in Wooster.

"I brought her a red rose and some chocolates. I took her to Frankavella's, an Italian restaurant where City Square is now," Hall recalled. "It must've worked out because I got a second date. I knew she was the one. I actually proposed to her a few months later."

Holmes County Recorder Anita Hall remembers that first date as well.

A date to an Italian restaurant in Wooster and a movie in 1981 was the start of something big for Dave and Anita Hall. The couple has been married for 41 years.
A date to an Italian restaurant in Wooster and a movie in 1981 was the start of something big for Dave and Anita Hall. The couple has been married for 41 years.

"After dinner at Frankavella's, we went to see Superman at the movies," she said. "That was our first date. But we actually met at the Holmes County Fair. That was in 1981. Our first date was a couple weeks after we met."

Something must have gone right, as the Halls have been married 41 years.

Another couple that has enjoyed a long-lasting relationship is Dave and Ann Mast of Benton.

Ann and Dave Mast's first date was to a Richard Pryor movie and dinner at Taco Bell. Nearly 40 years later, they're still dating.
Ann and Dave Mast's first date was to a Richard Pryor movie and dinner at Taco Bell. Nearly 40 years later, they're still dating.

Dave Mast admits it took some perseverance on his part to get a second date, but things turned out well as the couple is in their 37th year of wedded bliss.

"We met at church. I moved to Martin's Creek and she'd been going there already," the veteran journalist said. "On our first date, we went to see the movie 'Stir Crazy' at Twin Cinemas in Dover and we ate at Taco Bell."

The second date took some doing, but it happened eventually.

"I was persistent ... and it paid off," he said with a laugh. "What can I say, I married an angel."

Arnie and Ginny Oliver met while students at the University of Akron and have been riding together for nearly 30 years.
Arnie and Ginny Oliver met while students at the University of Akron and have been riding together for nearly 30 years.

Holmes County Planning Commission Director Arnie Oliver met his wife, Ginny, in college at the University of Akron, but it took some international relations to get them together more than 30 years ago.

"We met through some British exchange students that we were hanging out with," Oliver said. "She was pals with some of them, and I was pals with another group and we all linked up.

"We didn't officially start dating until after they left and went back to England," he said. "We were bored with our English friends gone, so we started hanging out."

This article originally appeared on The Daily Record: 'I married an angel:' First dates worked for these valentine couples

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