Bellevue couple inducted into Marriage Hall of Fame

NORTHEAST – Wisconsin Family Council (WFC) recently announced the newest inductees into its Marriage Hall of Fame, including a Bellevue couple.

“WFC began this unique Hall of Fame in 2022 to honor both the institution of marriage and individual marriages that have gone the distance. Applying to be part of the Marriage Hall of Fame was open to any married couple in Wisconsin who has currently been married 60 or more years,” a WFC release stated.

Theodore and Rosemary Prosser of Oneida were named Wisconsin’s 2025 longest-married couple — married 76 years.

Also inducted, Bryon “Bill” and Ruth Johnson, Bellevue, married 73 years.

Bill and Ruth met at a high school dance in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1946. They dated on and off for a few years, then more seriously and became engaged in 1950.

They were married on April 14, 1951, and Bill was soon drafted and joined the Marines.

He was stationed in Hawaii, where Ruth also joined him until his discharge in 1954.

Bill went back to UW-Madison and graduated with a doctorate in agronomy.

Ruth and Bill lived in Madison while Bill worked as a professor at UW-Madison.

They had two children by then.

Soon Bill accepted a position at Nalco Chemical Co. in Darien, Ill., where they moved in 1961.

They had their third child there. They lived in Illinois for almost 20 years.
Ruth was a dedicated homemaker and mother.

After Bill retired from Nalco, they moved to Waupaca to live in their dream retirement home they had been remodeling for 10 years.

In March 2024, they moved into an assisted living apartment in Bellevue.

They now have three children, four grandchildren, 11 great-grandchildren and one great-great-grandchild.

Couples receive a framed certificate recognizing their induction into Wisconsin’s Marriage Hall of Fame.

Applications for next year will open in January 2026.

For more information, visit wifamilycouncil.org.