Square dancing secret to their 40-year marriage

Bruce and Carolyn Simpson are members of Strawberry Squares Dance Club.

“We were both recently divorced and working at Exxon. I saw her walking down the hall one day and I thought, hmm. One thing led to another and here we are, married almost 40 years.”

What do you have in common?
“We love to square dance. Of course, it took me three years to convince him to do it.”

“After three years it was, ‘Learn to dance, or how do you like the garage?’ Well, it wasn’t quite that dramatic.”

“We went to a dance. I think it was at the KC hall back in 1980. The place was packed with square dancers, and he knew some of them. So he said, ‘Huh. This might not be such a bad idea after all.’”

What’s the secret to being a good square dancer?
“Listen to what the caller is telling you instead of trying to do your own thing. If you do that, you won’t crash into people. Nobody gets hurt too seriously. If you stay in the same square, and there’s no blood on the floor, it’s been a good dance.”

— Carolyn and Bruce Simpson