Fifty-one years ago today Ken and Iretha Flaming made a promise to spend the rest of their lives together, and they have been doing that ever since.

Ken and Iretha met in 1956 when they were both attending Oklahoma Panhandle State University.

“We were engaged on Valentine’s Day in 1957,” Irene said.

“But the whole thing started before that,” Ken interjected. “Her best friend invited us to a Valentine’s party the year before.”

“We had met a week before that,” Irene explained. “I worked at the library at the college and Ken came over to see about writing a report for one of his classes.”

Irene said that everyone knew everyone at the college, so when someone new showed up they wanted to know who it was.

“When Ken came in the library I asked another guy working in the library if he knew him and he said, ‘I don’t know, but he sure looks rough to me,’” she said with a smile.

He told Iretha about the report he was doing on a sports team while he was checking in the magazine he had used.

She did know of him, because Ken’s pastor in Caldwell had written to the pastor at her church and said there was a “nice young man coming to Panhandle.”

“My understanding was he already had a girlfriend,” she said.

Since Iretha was closing at the library that day, Ken asked if he could walk her home.
“That was about two blocks,” she said.

“On campus,” Ken added with a smile.

“But the biggest thing is next week,” he added.

Ken went to church the next Sunday and heard about the Valentine’s party.

“He said we could just go as a group,” Iretha said. “There was another kid on campus that might go.”

She still thought they were going as friends at this point.

That evening was all it took for Ken.

“He said that he knew by the time we got back I was the one,” she said.

Ken explained that he had seen her talking with another guy he knew and he saw that she was friendly and thought that was great.

“I liked what I saw,” he said, glancing at his wife.

One year later on Valentine’s Day they were engaged. They were then married on June 9, 1957.

Their secret over the years is simple.

“Keeping my mouth shut,” Ken said, with a laugh.

“No it’s not,” Iretha corrected. “Just commitment; give and take.”

“You’ve got to work together,” Ken added.

They also said it was their Christian beliefs and faith that helped carry them through.

Of course there were some rough spots with Ken’s illness, but they worked through them, and Ken said he couldn’t have made it without her.

“It’s working together,” Iretha said. “It’s not always a bed of roses.”

Ken and Iretha came to El Dorado in 1966, after teaching in Oklahoma, then Colorado.
They have an only child, Kyelene, who lives in Wichita.

She works for Arnold Group and in 2007 was president of SHRM Foundation and has been involved with the Junior League and sings in her church choir.