I'm glad I didn't know the way it all would end, the way it all would go.
Our lives are better left to chance.
I could have missed the pain, but I'd have had to miss the dance.
The Dance - Words and Music by Tony Arata

There was an anniversary waltz in heaven on March 22, 2017, as Eunice Marie Hughes Quick, at the age of 95, left this earth to join her husband, Keith, in a wedding anniversary dance to celebrate their marriage on that date 76 years earlier.
Eunice was born July 28, 1921 in Randolph, Iowa to Albert and Bessie (Hartman) Hughes. She graduated from Randolph High School in May, 1938, followed by graduation from Capital Beauty School in Omaha in 1939, where she graduated highest in her class. She told stories about the time Keith and his identical twin, Kenneth, tried switching places on her for a date. She never did forgive them for this prank, but eventually did agree to marry Keith. They were wed in a simple ceremony on March 22, 1941 at the First Methodist Church in Omaha.
The couple moved to Long Beach, California where Keith worked in tool and die at the Douglas Aircraft Company. They saved dimes to buy the car they drove to return to Nebraska. They moved to Omaha, where their first son, Kenneth Dale was born in 1942. In 1944 Keith joined the Air Force and served overseas in Europe. During this time Eunice and little Kenny Dale stayed with Keith's parents. In 1946 the family moved to Ceresco, Nebraska where Keith opened a machine shop and Eunice operated her first beauty shop. Son Roger Eugene was born in 1947.
In 1957, Keith and Eunice moved to Valentine where he worked for Gene Keeley at Keeley Implement. Eunice opened a beauty shop and did her best to help keep the women of Valentine looking well- coiffed until her retirement in 1977. She was also the secretary and bookkeeper for Keith's business, Valentine Machine and Welding Works. Eunice was a member of the Valentine United Methodist Church and Eastern Star.
The men in her family are avid sportsmen and Eunice would always get up to cook them breakfast before they left on their expeditions. She stated that she had the option of becoming a fisherman's widow or a fishing woman, and she chose to join her husband and learned to enjoy fishing as much as her husband and sons. Many evenings or weekends would find them at Merritt Reservoir or the "south" lakes. Fishing was not just a summer sport, as she loved to ice fish, also. Keith and Eunice enjoyed camping in their first pickup camper and then in later years in their motor homes. Many, many weekends were spent at Merritt with family and friends. Eunice could fry the world's best chicken or freshly caught fish over her stove in the camper. It was a grand family occasion to gather around a big table in her basement for a feast of freshly caught frog legs.
Keith and Eunice loved to dance, and were members of the Reveler's Dance Club and were known as excellent dancers, or, as they would have been described then, "they could really cut a rug". They traveled extensively within the United States in their motor home and in later years spent the winters in Texas. They also had the opportunity to travel to Hawaii and to Europe with friends and Australia with family members. Keith would always say they were "road runners." Eunice was adamant that they would attend Jon and Natalie's wedding in Golden, CO in October 2008, which became their final trip together, She was so very happy and thrilled to be a special part of that day.

As a couple, they grew many beautiful African violets that thrived in the front window on a huge tiered shelf Keith crafted and welded. They spent many hours playing cribbage and Eunice learned to play pool with Keith on their basement snooker table. After years of evenings spent in their recliners while Keith watched sports on television, she acquired an interest in most televised sports, which occupied many hours for her at Cherry Hills and Pine View, where she resided for the last 5 ½ years.
She leaves to cherish her memory her son Kenneth of Loveland, CO and son Roger and his wife, Betty, of Valentine. She would proudly tell you her most treasured legacy is her grandchildren, Keith Quick (Kandi) of Loveland, Scott Quick (Kari) of Meridian, ID, Aaron Quick of Chicago, IL, and Natalie Lien (Jon) of Arvada, CO and well as five great granddaughters and three great grandsons; Kristina, Kaitlin, and Kendrick Quick of Loveland, Kori, Kennice, and Kelly Quick of Meridian and Jackson and Carsten Lien of Arvada.
Her family is at peace knowing Eunice and Keith's reunion celebration was certainly joined by other family members, including her parents, brother Dale Hughes, daughter-in-law Deena Quick, and their little black toy poodle, Fifi.
Funeral services were held March 25, 2017 at the Berean Bible Church, with Pastor Scott McClellen officiating. Eunice was laid to rest next to Keith at Mount Hope Cemetery in Valentine. Sandoz Chapel of the Pines was entrusted with arrangements. Memorials are suggested to the Valentine Public Library Foundation.