BELMONT, Wis. — When 16-year-old Mary McNutt’s brother and sister-in-law took her to a local dairy dance, she never imagined where the evening would take her. “My mother had broken her hip and was in the hospital, so they asked me to come with them,” she said.
“It was June 30, 1962.” Mary was sitting on some bleachers watching couples on the dance floor when she sensed someone behind her. “I kept turning around and there were these two guys sitting a couple of bleachers up from me,” she said.
“Finally, one of them came down and asked me to dance.” Owen Demo, who grew up on a farm in Garnavillo, Iowa, was 23 years old and working as a soil scientist for the U.S.
Department of Agriculture’s Soil Conservation Service (now the Natural Resources Conservation Service). “We danced a few times, and then he asked if he could take me home,” the now-Mary Demo said. Owen thought he had enjoyed a nice evening with a college girl.
“I asked her when we were dancing how old she was,” he said. “She said something like, ‘I’m a junior,’ so I thought junior in college.” Owen soon figured out that Mary was a high school junior, not a college student.
But it didn’t matter to him. “When I first met her, I told my buddy ‘I’ve met the love of my life. This is who I’m going to marry,’” he said.
“I just knew.” Owen proposed over a lobster dinner on Christmas Eve in 1965. “Five dollars for a lobster dinner,” he said.
“Can you believe it?” The couple got married at Oxford Presbyterian Church on July 23, 1966. After a two-week East Coast honeymoon, the pair settled in Janesville, where Owen had been transferred by the SCS. Owen and Mary have two children — Robert and Rebecca “Becky” Cody — and three grandchildren.
Mary was still in college when she and Owen married, and it was important to both of them that she complete her degree. She had two years at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point behind her, and once they were in Janesville, Mary attended the campus at Whitewater for her junior year. When Owen was transferred to River Falls, Mary was able to complete her bachelor’s in education at the UW campus there.
Owen also would later return to school at UW-Platteville, where he built on his bachelor’s degree in soil science by getting a master’s in agricultural industries. The family soon moved to Belmont, and has been part of the community for more than 50 years. The Demos have been in their current home, just a block away from their first Belmont home, since 2009.
Mary would go on to a 35-year career as a kindergarten teacher in Belmont-area schools. She also gave piano lessons to students in her home. She retired in 2009, continuing to substitute teach until 2023.
She also continues to teach piano. Owen transferred to Farmers Home Administration (FmHA), assisting farmers with government loans. He retired in 1986, then went on to found Demo Appraisal and Management.
He sold that business in 2014. Becky, of Highland, said that education was very important in the Demo household, even when the family went on vacation. “My friends were going to fun places like the Dells or Disneyland,” she said.
“We were going to places like the Grand Canyon and Civil War battlefields and national parks.” Becky admits she and her brother were often less than enthused when her dad, legal pad in hand, started mapping out their itinerary. “But when I was able to make connections when we started learning about these things in school, when I could say ‘Hey, I’ve been there, I’ve hiked in the Grand Canyon,’ that was pretty amazing,” she said.
Owen and Mary have counted 75 trips together through all 50 states, as well as South America and Europe. They enjoy visiting Branson, Mo., and Nashville, and Mary named Banff and Lake Louise in British Columbia, Canada, as one of her favorite trips.
For Owen, it was Monument Valley, Utah. “To me, it was beautiful,” he said. “The most beautiful place I’d ever seen.
” At home, Becky remembers how much her father helped around the house, which she found a bit embarrassing when her friends would spend the night. “My dad would vacuum on Saturday mornings at 7 a.m.
,” she said. “I’d get so annoyed. I mean, whose dad did household chores in the ’80s? And who vacuums at 7 a.
m. on a Saturday? But that was a thing with him, too. Get your work done first, and then you can play.
” Owen and Mary have both stayed invested in the Belmont community. They are members of the local Lions Club and are active members of Belmont Methodist Church. Owen served on the Belmont Village Board from 2000 to 2016, and on the Lafayette County Board from 2010 to 2018.
He is particularly proud of the role he played in the building of Bond Park. “There’s a ball field, and an exercise trail with equipment,” he said. “There’s a picnic pavilion and a playground.
It’s just a real nice park for the community.” Owen also has been a Mason and a Shriner for more than 50 years, and both he and Mary are Eastern Star members. The Demos also have a special place in their hearts for nature conservation, and are active members of Pheasants Forever and Ducks Unlimited.
Owen now owns the farm where he grew up, which is part of a CRP (Conservation Reserve Program) through the state of Iowa. “Our big hobby is wildlife,” Owen said. They also enjoy cribbage and a daily crossword puzzle while Red, their Deutsch drahthaar, lies at their feet.
But they’re more likely to be out and about. “I’ll call and they won’t be home,” Becky said. “Their social schedule is busier than mine.
” That could be because they’re often out celebrating. “They celebrate the littlest things,” Becky said. “The day they met, they day they got engaged.
My dad will send my mom flowers, or they’ll go out to dinner. They really are each other’s best friend.” Owen said that time together and common interests are a big part of their successful marriage.
“We were both raised on farms, and we know what hard work is,” Owen said. “And those 75 trips we’ve taken, that kind of thing will keep you together.” For Mary, she just always knew.
“Anybody else I met after him, I just said, ‘no,’” she said. “He was the only one. I made up my mind that that was who I was going to marry, and I never wavered from that.
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