Meet the 0.1 percenters

WAUPACA – Reverend Eugene and Elvira Gauerke celebrated their 72nd wedding anniversary on Aug. 27. According to data from the U.S. Census Bureau, reaching a 70th wedding anniversary is very rare. Only about one-tenth of one percent (0.1%) of all marriages reach 70 years. About 7% of marriages reach 50 years (a golden anniversary) and only about 1% reach 60 years.

The Gauerkes served Lutheran churches in Green Bay, Los Angles and Albuquerque before landing at Trinity Lutheran Church in Waupaca in 1971.  The couple had five children.

In a 1977 issue of the Waupaca County Post, a columnist named Rosemary remarked, “That Rev. Gauerke—he’s something else, during a recent hot day, when the front doors of the Waupaca County Post were open, he rode his bike right into the building and into the editor’s office to deliver some church news for the paper. What a guy—everyone likes him down here—he’s so nice.”