A half century of love letters
Nancy and Jim Yank in Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise in Alberta, Canada. They rode the Rocky Mountaineer train from Vancouver, British Columbia to Banff, Alberta.
Jim and Nancy Yank’s love story began with a pen and paper, thousands of miles apart from each other. More than five decades later, they are still writing their story together, where they are enjoying retirement just a few minutes from family.
“We’re just very happy,” Nancy said with a smile. “We live two miles from our daughter and her family. We call it close, but not too close.”
The couple first met at a Christmas party on a U.S. Air Force base in northern Wisconsin shortly before Jim was deployed to Vietnam as an Air Force electrician. The two stayed connected by air mail.
“We wrote letters back and forth to one another nearly every day,” Jim shared. “That gave us an excellent opportunity to get to know one another.”
Jim was honorably discharged in 1971, and by 1972, the two were married. They spent five years in Saint Paul, Minnesota, before Jim’s job transferred them to Dallas. They lived in Carrollton, a suburb of Dallas, where they raised their family and built their careers. Jim was a master electrician and Nancy, a registered NICU nurse.
They spent more than 40 years in Texas before retiring. With their son, Michael, staying in Texas, the couple chose to follow their daughter Angela, her husband, and their twin granddaughters to Colorado.
“We wanted to be close to our grandkids growing up,” Nancy said.
They moved to the Terrain neighborhood in 2018 and have never looked back. They stay active at the Castle Rock Senior Activities Center. Jim has a passion for cars. They own a 2019 Ruby Red Ford Mustang and are active members of a national and local Mustang club. But their favorite role is being grandparents. Jim and Nancy cherish the time they spend with their now 9-year-old granddaughters, Kaitlyn and Catherine.
“We’ve been here for all of the big milestones from ages 2 to 9,” Nancy said. “We’re Mimi and Papa.”
Whether you call them Mimi and Papa or Jim and Nancy, one thing is for sure, they are embracing this chapter of life with the same love that first began with their corresponding love notes.
“We still have all of those letters,” Nancy shared.
Jim Yank celebrating his 75th birthday with family. Left to right: Granddaughter Kaitlyn, Nancy, daughter Angela, Jim and granddaughter Catherine.
More than five decades later, Jim and Nancy Yank still hold onto the love letters that tell their story through Nancy’s colorful cards and Jim’s airmail.
By Mindy Stone; photos courtesy of Jim and Nancy Yank
