Just like the dry run of a wedding rehearsal, the winning couple of the fourth annual Not-So-Newlywed Game practiced mock questions and answers over dinner in recent days. But what really helped Chuck and Suzanne Wells find post-wedded bliss at Thursday’s fundraiser at The Commons was good, old-fashioned unity from substantial time together.
“The secret is simply that we are best friends, and we know each other really well,” Chuck Wells said.
Besides their own connection, the Wellses, married 18 years, also showed a solid link with much of the crowd of 275 people because the pair also became the top vote-getters among donors.
“We did spend a lot of time talking about our past (to prepare),” Suzanne Wells. “And that was really fun.”
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Chuck Wells is vice president and group publisher for AIM Media Indiana, including The Republic. Suzanne Wells is executive director of Engine Business Purchasing at Cummins, Inc.
The charity event is a spoof of the classic TV game show, “The Newlywed Game,” sponsored by Turning Point Domestic Violence Services during Domestic Violence Awareness Month. Its intent is to show healthy, lasting, give-and take relationships.
The gathering generated $11,600 for Turning Point’s scholarship fund, linked to its annual high school dance marathon.
Besides the Wellses, the four other participating couples were:
Beth and Barry Parkhurst, married 30 years in November.
Deb and Doug Roese, married 27 years.
Emily Westhafer and Ethan Crough, married 17 years.
Lisa and Steve Alderson, married 1 1/2 years.
Laughter held the gathering together as firmly as well-fastened suspenders hold together a matrimonial tuxedo. Returning show host Mickey Kim’s dry wit once again was evident at the outset.
“Remember,” Kim told the couples at the beginning, “being right actually is worth zero points, just like at home.”
And just like the game show from which it was spun, couples had to guess answers that their spouse would have guessed so their responses would match. Early on, Doug Roese was totally befuddled that wife Deb had said the one fashion element she might like to see him change was his hair.
“But I don’t HAVE any hair,” he said to her incredulously regarding his close-to-the-scalp crop.
Later, when couples were asked to name how they would spend a $500 Amazon gift card, Doug Roese, “apparently a good toupe,” which generated hair-raising laughs from the audience.
When another question asked husbands what their wives would insist on bringing on a year-long trip to Mars, veteran spouse Barry Parkhurst quipped, “I think maybe a book, because that would be a long trip, and we do not want to have to talk THAT much.”
Ethan Crough, a known extrovert to his friends, took good-natured ribbing for answers that sometimes hinged on lengthy stories or explanations. Wife Emily Westhafer was hardly surprised. At one point when she was about to give a single-phrase, to-the-point answer about what went wrong on their wedding day, she cracked, “I have a feeling he went on about this for a while.”
He had indeed. But that became a touching moment when he spoke of how friends and family rallied to get to their nuptials days after 9/11 when many flights still were canceled.
The couple boasted one of the most vocal cheering sections in the place when a table full of people in the middle of the crowd waved homemade signs. One read, “Yay for E-squared.”
Other couples turned painful pre-wedding memories to humor.
When Steve Alderson shared how he suffered a serious illness of a hole in his esophagus the week of their wedding, he mentioned a priest came to visit one day.
“I thought he was there to give me the Last Rites,” Alderson cracked.
At an event meant to show strong relationships, those moments seemed as beautiful as any blushing bride. Even struggles and heartache contributed to memories of commitment that have turned to gold.
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During a brief annual business meeting Thursday, Turning Point Domestic Violence Services highlighted the following honors:
- Community Partner Award to the Council For Youth Development.
- The Mission Partner Award to Thrive Alliance.
- Kris Kindelsperger Volunteer of the Year Award to school teacher Greg Lewis, among key volunteers who helped launch Turning Point’s Dance Marathon fundraiser 20 years ago.
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Turning Point Domestic Violence Services works to apply primary prevention education to get in front of the problem of dating and domestic violence.
In 2017, the organization provided 6,582 nights of housing in the organization’s emergency shelter and answered 1,280 crisis calls.
The organization serves Bartholomew, Brown, Decatur, Jackson, Johnson and Shelby counties.
For more information, visit turningpointdv.org
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- Men Move to End Violence, 24-hour event starting noon Oct. 15, Amazing Joe’s manager Nick Gram will sit on restaurant’s roof at 2607 Central Ave. until $10,000 in pledges are made.
- Sixth annual Men Take a Stand event, noon Oct. 17, Amazing Joe’s, 2607 Central Ave.
- Stop the Violence Fall Eggfest, noon to 4 p.m. Oct. 27, Thompson’s Furniture, 2440 Central Ave., $10 tickets to sample food from 20 different grilling teams; silent auction.
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