(Editor’s Note: This is a first in a series of love stories, leading to Valentine’s Day, Feb. 14)
Staff writer
Faith always has been a central part of June and Lois Jost’s marriage. They first met at Youngtown Church.
The lifelong Marion County residents dated between two and three years before being married more than 70 years ago. June Jost was 21, and Lois Jost was 22 in 1937.
Lois Jost’s maiden name was Scharenberg. “I almost forgot, it’s been so long,” she said.
Religion is important to keeping a marriage together through difficult times, the Josts said.
“We go to church and read our Bible together,” Lois Jost said. “It takes a little love, too. More than a little.”
They make prayer and Bible reading part of their morning routine, and it makes every day better, she said.
“Did you know we were in jail for nine years?” June Jost asked.
He served as Marion County sheriff for 16 years, and they stayed in the living quarters at the jail for nine of them, he explained.
June Jost said he worked hard as a farmer, police officer, and sheriff, but he always had a sense of humor.
“You have to have fun and laugh a lot,” he said.
“I can’t say that we ever had any problems at all,” June Jost said. “We just loved every minute of it.”
“It’s got better and better all the time,” Lois Jost said.
The Josts have four children: Gayla Falls of Arkansas, Donna Ames of Wichita, Dean Jost of Minneapolis, and Rita Janzen of Sedgwick. They also have 10 grandchildren, and numerous great-grandchildren.
They now live in an apartment at Marion Assisted Living. Lois Jost said the apartment is a nice fit for them.
“When you love somebody, you’ll do almost anything for them,” Lois Jost said.