On their 50th wedding anniversary, Rosemarie and Siegfried Lueger look to the future with optimism.
©Karin Lässer
50 years ago, Rosemarie Rusch and Siegfried Lueger said yes. The civil marriage took place in Schwarzach, and the couple received the blessing of the church in the church in Gütle in Dornbirn.
As an only child, the jubilee experienced a happy childhood and youth and grew up sheltered in Dornbirn-Oberdorf. After leaving school, she found a job at the Troll laundry. “My aunt worked in the laundry and got me this job. There was a report card on Friday and I started work on Monday,” says Rosemarie, who liked the laundry and where she was soon appreciated as a good worker.
The jubilarian saw the light of day in Hirt in Carinthia. His childhood was kind of frugal, he notes, with nine other siblings to look after from their parents. After elementary school, it was time to work for him. Nobody asked him what he wanted to be and so he had to give up his dream of an apprenticeship as a carpenter and earn his living in construction instead. In 1967 Siegfried came to Vorarlberg. After a serious accident, he switched to the weaving mill at Heerburger and Rhomberg.
The couple met in Dornbirn through a friend. “I was out with the sister of a classmate when we met,” Rosemarie remembers. “Her companion was more talkative than she, Rosemarie was very shy,” adds Siegfried. “Nevertheless, we found each other. I went to the Stubat for two years, although I was a ‘foreigner’, it worked because her mother was Styrian, so there were no prejudices.” With the consent of Rosemary’s parents, they got married in Schwarzach on February 16, 1973 . The church wedding turned out to be somewhat more difficult, because the church in Schwarzach and the pilgrimage church in Bildstein were too big for the pastor, and it was only the Oberdorf pastor who agreed to bless them in the church in Gütle. After a beautiful wedding celebration with the families and relatives in the Linde in Dornbirn, the couple spent their honeymoon in Carinthia. The newlyweds lived in Schwarzach for a year and then moved to a rented apartment in Dornbirn.
In 1975, to the joy of the couple, their son Jürgen saw the light of day and since Rosemarie’s mother was still working and nobody else was there to look after the child, Rosemarie stayed at home. Plans for their own house were made and in 1978 the family was able to happily move into their new home. “When our daughter Natascha was born in 1979, our family was complete,” said the couple. They brought back good memories from hikes and skiing with the children and vacations with Siegfried’s family in Carinthia.
“My husband is a real vole,” says Rosemarie. “He was a gardener as a child and provides me with purely organic vegetables.” The jubilarian is a good cook and spoils her husband and son Jürgen, who lives in the house and is happy when he doesn’t have to cook himself. She likes to watch TV and says that she used to knit a lot.
satisfaction is important
Rosemarie is very happy with her health and manages the household without help. The after-effects of his accident bother Siegfried, as does the fact that he has recovered from a number of serious illnesses. In this way, going for walks together enriches the couple’s everyday life, but always ‘hofele’ and with a stick so that Siegfried doesn’t injure himself. The good relationship with the children and granddaughter Vanessa, who is studying in Vienna, is important to the couple. Spoiled by both and a valued member of the family is the tomcat Maxi.
In conclusion, the jubilarians say that they are satisfied, that although there is not enough money for a trip around the world, they are no longer as demanding. They celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary comfortably at home, sit together and review the 50 years.
