It was the spring on 1976 and Ron Wegleitner was doing what any 17-year-old car nut in Saskatoon would be doing. He was washing his car, getting ready to do some street racing.
He got talked out of racing that night. Instead, he was set up on a blind date. Ron and his friends rolled up to Rete’s house that night. She was in Saskatoon studying hairdressing.
“Just as I pulled up to the house, they informed me they had someone they wanted me to meet,” Ron tells the Mail. “I turned around and she walked out of the house, and I looked at her, I said ‘that’s the lady I’m gonna marry.’”
Rete wasn’t too sure of the young man with wild long hair. They went out that night, but Ron sat in the back seat.
“I chased her for about three months and then I got a date,” he said.
Rete left Saskatoon during that summer for work, and when she got back they began to date around October.
Family was always important, and they were best friends with his parents. The had a family band and spent many nights playing. When they would get the chance they would all go dancing. The band still gets together for family and special events.
They were married in 1977 and in 1980 had their first child. Not long after that, they had the opportunity to come to Drumheller.
“Some friends of ours wanted to buy a garage where the Quick Lube is now, Riverview Park Texaco. He asked if I would think about moving down there to run the shop, that was 1982,” he said.
The long term plan was to be in the valley for a couple of years, and then head to BC to work in a mine or lumber mill, and then the Northwest Territories. After that, he would return to Saskatchewan. However, they stayed in the valley.
They operated the garage on Highway 9, and then had the shop at a location on Bridge Street. In 1990 they moved into R&R Automotive in downtown Drumheller where he operated until 2008. Currently, Ron works for Atco and Rete is at Drumheller Associated Physicians.
Along the way, they raised their two boys, and as an active member of the Rotary Club, had five Rotary exchange daughters who have remained close. Ron says he counts family by the heart and not by blood.
Almost 42 years later they say the secret is patience, lots of love and laughter.
“You have to have fun together,” said Rete.
“I told my son and daughter-in-law, and I have told lots of young couples, ‘you spend more time picking out a phone than a mate,’” laughs Ron. “For me, she was the one I wanted to marry in 1976, and she is the one I would marry today if I had to do it again.”
