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Chance meeting at 4-H dairy barn sets Nesses on life course

Sherrill (left) and Steve Ness, of Huntington, met in 1964 in the dairy barn during the Huntington County 4-H Fair and married four years later. They remain active in the fair by running the auction and helping to find buyers. For the Nesses, the fair is a family affair. Their two daughters and three grandchildren were all involved in some way with the fair. They show off a photo of their oldest granddaughter, Olivia Eckert, who was involved in the horse and pony show.
Sherrill (left) and Steve Ness, of Huntington, met in 1964 in the dairy barn during the Huntington County 4-H Fair and married four years later. They remain active in the fair by running the auction and helping to find buyers. For the Nesses, the fair is a family affair. Their two daughters and three grandchildren were all involved in some way with the fair. They show off a photo of their oldest granddaughter, Olivia Eckert, who was involved in the horse and pony show. Photo by Lauren Frischman.

It was 1964 in the Huntington County 4-H Fair dairy barn when Steve Ness first saw Sherrill Wantland.

Sherrill was on the way to visit her high school friend and instead found Steve in the booth next door to her friend’s. Unbeknownst to Sherrill, he was dating the friend she was looking for.

Steve asked Sherrill to go get a root beer at the local A&W root beer stand,  local hangout at the time, says Sherrill.

They returned to the fairgrounds, where Steve’s friends told him that his angry girlfriend was looking for him. That relationship ended up fizzling out.

“The next night, I came looking for my friend again, and she wasn’t in the dairy barn,” remembers Sherrill. “He was in the dairy barn, and said, ‘Do you want to walk around?’ And so we walked around the fair together.”

Steve said Sherrill’s hair was what attracted him to her. Her hair was up in rollers and tied in a scarf so it would look good at night.

“I’ve never seen rollers like that!” says Steve.

Steve, who showed dairy and horses, and Sherrill, who did foods and clothing, continued to walk around the fair together the last night.

They didn’t see each other again until December, when they both attended a sock hop at the YMCA. Two weeks later, they went on their first official date.

“My parents were strict,” says Steve. “I could go out one night a week and that was it. That’s the reason I had to plan it out two weeks.”

They dated until the following spring. Prom was approaching, and Steve broke up with Sherrill to avoid all of the fees that come with attending prom.

“It cost and he can’t dance and that is the truth!” says Sherrill. “And then a month went by, he came to my house again and asked me to go out with him, and

I said, ‘OK,’ and we’ve been together ever since. We got married three years later.”

Steve and Sherrill became Mr. and Mrs. Ness on July 6, 1968. They recently celebrated their 47th anniversary.

Steve, a broker/owner at Ness Bros. Real Estate & Auction Co., and Sherrill, an agent at the Huntington Ness Bros. office, remain actively involved in the 4-H fair.

Steve has served on the fair board, and their office has been in charge of the auction for 30-plus years. They also are involved in contacting businesses and finding buyers for the auction, again for 30-plus years.

“There’s a lot of kids that maybe a lot of people don’t know or that come in from different counties to show, and we try to make sure we keep that premium kind of fair that they all get a good price,” says Sherrill. “We’re still very much involved in 4-H.”

The 4-H fair has been a family affair for the Nesses. Their two daughters were involved in 4-H, and they now have the privilege of watching their three grandchildren take part in the organization that is so dear to their hearts. They enjoy keeping up with the horse and pony show to watch their granddaughter compete.

Following in his grandparents’ footsteps, the Nesses’ grandson met his girlfriend through 4-H, and they have been dating for three years.

“We’ve gone every year,” says Sherrill. “There’s never been a year that we missed the 4-H fair. We take those memory walks, and we go through the dairy barn, and we also go past the area where we met. The 4-H fair is a social event. I think we’ll always be 4-H’ers.”