Dr. Wayne and Ruth Marie Faber, of Le Mars, Iowa, will celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary on Jan. 27.

Ruth Marie Peterson grew up on a dairy farm in Mower County near Austin, Minnesota, and graduated from Austin High School in 1953.  Ruth went on to be Minnesota’s Princess Kay in 1955, and then became the first American Dairy Princess in 1956.

Wayne was raised in Hull, Iowa, and graduated in 1946 from Hull Public High School. Served two years in the U.S. Army in Japan in the Medical Corps. He completed his pre-vet studies at Westmar College in Le Mars and then graduated from Iowa State University in 1954 with a degree in veterinary medicine.

The couple met during the summer of 1953 while Wayne was interning with Ruth Marie’s cousin, Dr. Laurel Teleen, of Gowrie, Iowa. They were married on Jan. 27, 1957, at St. Olaf Lutheran Church in Austin.

Wayne practiced veterinary medicine for 30 years in Le Mars, and then worked five years as the Minnesota District Sales Manager for Grand Laboratories. Three children were born to them, Ana Maria, who passed away in 1992, Heidi Faber Nordstrom, in Stockholm, Sweden, Jay, in Le Mars, and one grandchild, Steve, in Pittsburgh.

They celebrated their anniversary with a family dinner.