ST. ANSGAR -- A weathered, lasting love warms the couple's home.

"I always thought I'd be married for life, just never dreamed it might last 73 years," Vergie Brones says.

Eyes shining, she leans toward Stanley. Their aged hands clasp for a moment. A tender smile passes between husband and wife.

Life hasn't always been serene since the two exchanged wedding vows in 1933.

"But it's been good," Stanley says.

The self-described farm kids from Forest City met as teenagers, married a year later and set off down life's path as partners.

"It was pretty hard times back then," Stanley says. "To make a dollar, you had to work hard, awful hard. On the farm, you got paid a penny for picking a bushel of corn, so you had to pick 100 bushels to earn a dollar."

Farming was all the young couple knew, but the craft suited them. They worked land owned by Stanley's father near Pilot Knob for several years, planting and harvesting. They also milked cows, raised hogs, chickens and produced garden vegetables.

When Stanley's father returned from Minnesota to work the farm, Vergie and Stanley got in the car one afternoon and started driving. They were searching for another bit of ground.

"We drove the countryside and ended up near Osage," Vergie says.

She laughs at the memory.

Their search in 1939 ended in Mitchell County, where the couple share-cropped and rented pasture for $5 an acre.

"That was right at the end of the Depression, and we had no money saved. We just learned to work hard to survive," Vergie says.

Survive they did, eventually farming about 400 acres and raising as many as 1,000 hogs a year.

"My first name was "work,'" Stanley says.

This time, it is his turn to chuckle.

During their decades on the land, modern machinery and technology revolutionized farming.

"We started out with a team of horses, four cows and one tractor," Vergie says. "Those were long days, morning to night."

Though Vergie and Stanley retired to town in 1978, more than 45 years on the land left a mark. They continue to garden, raising cucumbers, tomatoes, beets and flowers.

"And together we can about 60 quarts of pickles every summer," Vergie says.

Those jars of special sweets are treasured Christmas gifts for family and friends. Their only child, daughter Jana, was born in 1948 and lives in Arizona with her family.

These days, house chores are shared, just as farm chores once were.

"She cooks, I clean up," Stanley says. "And we both do our own laundry."

The couple offer a few simple secrets for a long relationship.

"Work together," she says. "And if you disagree, argue it out."

"Pay the bills first and learn to save," he says.

And on long life, their words are direct: Work hard and look forward to the day.

Contact Jan Horgen at (641) 421-0534 or jan.horgen@globegazette.com.