By Laura Nyberg-Comins
TOMAHAWK – “It will never last,” their friends and family proclaimed.
Teenagers were considered too young, even back then, to make a marriage work. Also, Sally was the daughter of Dude and Celia Thayer, who were Catholics, and Ed was the son of Bert and Ethel Nyberg, who were Lutherans. Seventy years ago, it was not common for people of different religious traditions to get married and stay married. But they were high school sweethearts and determined to be together.
Dating in high school during the 1950s played out very much like a scene from the TV show Happy Days or the movie Grease. They would gather at their favorite diner, in this case Arnie’s instead of Arnold’s or the Bowling Alley Grill. His friends and her friends would converge at their mutual meeting spot and pool their money to share fries, burgers and ice cream, like the iconic Frosty Palace diner scene in Grease. Other high school memories include working together at the Tomahawk Drug Store and attending prom at Tomahawk High School.
Although Ed and Sally were both born and raised in Tomahawk, the young couple moved to Madison, Wis., briefly after they married on Sept. 25, 1954, at St. Bernard’s Catholic Church. Ed took a job parking cars at Manchester’s and then temporarily worked for Rayovac. A short time later, they started their family and went on to have seven children, 17 grandchildren, and 16 great-grandchildren. They raised their family in Tomahawk, leaving briefly for Olympia, Wash., while Ed was mobilized with the National Guard at Ft. Lewis and for Lufkin, Tex., while he was working for the paper mill.
To provide for their family, they worked many different jobs. Together, they ran the local Tastee-Freez, located at the current Dairy Queen site. Sally worked for attorney Ralph Tyler and Thayer Sand and Gravel as a bookkeeper, and she did personal typing for Ed McDonnald, a local land baron. She cooked at Grandma’s Kitchen restaurant and the Tomahawk School District. She also helped raise several generations of children by providing daycare and foster care.
Ed has done everything from weeding at Wolf’s Garden, to setting pins at the bowling alley, to limbing and loading trees with his Uncle Martin Christenson. He also worked for State Farm Insurance as an agent and spent the bulk of his career working in a variety of departments at the paper mill, including the labor pool, wood room, production, shipping, maintenance and industrial relations.
“I was even a roll plugger for a while,” he said.
Over the past 70 years, the Nybergs have had a big impact on the Tomahawk community by serving as volunteers in a variety of organizations. Sally taught Webelos, a program for Cub Scouts who were preparing to become Boy Scouts, and CCD, a program that provides religious education to Catholic school children. She also served on St. Mary’s School Board.
Ed helped start the Lutheran Pioneers. The program at the time was to develop kids’ camping skills. He was twice recognized with the local Distinguished Service Award (DSA), first in 1968 for his work providing gun safety and hunter ethics to Boy Scouts, in what later become the statewide Hunter Safety program, with the local Tomahawk team training more than 700 students. He was recognized again in 2004 for organizing the Northern Wisconsin Support Unit that sent over three tons of supply items to Iraq to support our National Guard troops and to assist Iraqi schools. In addition, Ed worked on a team of trainers who educated over 800 students on snowmobile safety, and he traveled the world with Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve (ESGR). In later years, Ed and Sally assisted with the Tomahawk Fire Rescue School and the Bronsted-Searl-Ingman American Legion Post 93.
“We could not have accomplished these things without support from each other, family and friends,” Ed said.
The same friends stayed by their side from those early days while they were dating and continued as neighbors and partners while raising their family, developing their careers and providing volunteer services to the Tomahawk community.
Other interests include co-founding Northwoods Cruisers, the local car club, and being avid sports fans. Future generations became acquainted with Ed and Sally as they cheered on the Tomahawk Hatchets, particularly while their children and grandchildren participated in wrestling and cross country. As Wisconsin Badger season ticket holders for nearly 25 years, you could also hear about their travels to bowl games with the Badgers, including three Rose Bowls, two Capital One Bowls, the Sun Bowl and the Champs Bowl. Their personal favorite was an excursion to the Alamo Bowl. Ed would even call WJJQ live on the air to share his experience participating in Badger activities at the Rose Bowls.
Things were not always easy during their 70-year marriage. They lost their parents, siblings, a son and two grandchildren. In October of 2020, they barely survived COVID-19 and were in the ICU at Howard Young Medical Center in Minocqua, Wis. When they contracted the virus, their family members, neighbors, churches and even local businesses pitched in to help them navigate the healthcare system, obtain food and keep their spirits up. This miracle was not just chance. They had spent a lifetime caring for other people, including building an addition onto their home so that they could care for aging parents, help their dying son and provide a place of refuge when someone in the community needed it. Just when they needed it the most, others stepped up to return their kindness.
Today, few people can achieve a marriage milestone like this one.
When asked for the secret of their successful marriage Ed replied, “Don’t get divorced, understand and tolerate each other.”
Sally said, “You are exactly right, be supportive of each other and ask how I can help.”
Ed and Sally have spent a lifetime asking this question of each other and of the Tomahawk community.
As for those who originally expressed concern about the marriage lasting, Ed and Sally chuckle at the thought of anyone still waiting for the marriage to fall apart. Together, they had beat the odds. They have been married 70 years, longer than anyone who expressed concerns had been married. Indeed, a longer marriage than most couples you will ever meet in a lifetime.