If you’re new to Lace ‘N Levi’s Club, you may have noticed when Della arrives. She usually comes in near the end of pre-rounds and many of us are happy and excited that she has made the effort to come out and dance with us. Della is a much loved member of our club. Several members will take turns walking Della out onto the dance floor. We all know Della’s favorite two-step, Sweet Talk.
Some of us remember the many years that Della came out to our Square Dance club with Russ. They always made it so fun! Others remember the earlier years when Della came with her husband Duane. During those years, Russ came with his wife Janet. So many years of dance and so many memories. I got a chance to hear about some of Della’s memories over the years, here is a bit of our conversation.
Della and her husband Duane Marble started square dancing in 1984. Some friends of theirs, from Honeyville, talked to Duane about it. Duane told them they’d come out and try it. They started dancing with two clubs at the time, one in Tremonton and one in Logan. Eventually these friends stopped coming. But Della and Duane met some other friends, Russ and Janet, who were in their LDS ward in Corrinne. They hadn’t really known each other before, but square dancing changed all that. They became good friends, often carpooling to dance festivals together. Years later after Della lost Duane, and Russ had lost Janet, they became carpooling buddies again, traveling out to Lace ‘N Levi’s to participate in square dance. In fact, Russ had come alone a few times and told Della, “They all want to see you, nobody cares if I come.”
Della remembers how big square dancing was, “In our early days I remember going to Tremonton. I was an officer, Russ and Janet were presidents in The Bear River Squares. Renny Mann was our regular caller at that time. We had a guest caller, Art Tangan, for our Anniversary Dance. We had 19 squares for that dance back then. It was held at an old school. This was in 1986 or 1987.” “People came from all over northern Utah and some from Salt Lake. The Wild Bunch was a big club and they supported us a lot.”
Della continues talking about the years since then, “I really think people got older and had to quit. We didn’t get a lot of new dancers, so it dwindled.” She pauses for a moment, “People your age are so busy with kids. They didn’t want to take the time to learn or come out to square dancing.”
Della continues to speak about the past, “We used to have special callers coming in, now they can hardly afford it. One of the biggest highlights was going to St. George and competing in the Senior Games. We won medals!” She says this with a smile.
Della reminisces over the past and the many friends that have come and gone. “We met a lot of friends. It’s one of the things I love about it, the social part, being with friends and doing things with them. I have met some really neat people square dancing. We go out and grab a bite to eat after dancing. We get to know each other better there.”
Della has always been a very active person. Born in Orangeville and raised in Ferron, Utah, she came to Logan to attend Utah State University. After attending for one year, she met Duane Marble and they were married. The couple bought a home in Corinne in 1963. Della and Duane both worked at Thiokol. She worked there for twenty years. Della and Duane adopted a child from California, nine months and eleven days later she gave birth to a little boy. They got another boy two years later, and a little girl five years after that. Now she has fourteen grandchildren, and twenty-one great grandchildren.
Della loves to dance! She has participated in tap dancing, clogging, square dancing and even line dancing. She has continued to dance and play golf, recently helping organize a ladies golf tournament in 2024.
“Square dancing is fading, unless we get new dancers coming in…” “Like I said, us old ones will fade away and if no one takes our place it will dwindle.” She continues, “I hope we just keep going, even though we’re getting old, I hope we can keep going for many more years.”
One final thought, “Square dancing is good for your brain. It’s good for your body. You kind of forget your problems because you’re dancing.”
I’m sure we all can agree with that!