Remembering Loving Couple Who Dressed Alike Every Single Day

Brent and Betty Pearson of Anamosa always made you smile whenever you ran into them because you knew they belonged together. That's because they always dressed alike.

Yep, whether that be dressy clothes, casual or grubby, it was a ritual the couple began in the 1970s, a practice I learned about when I met them in 1994. Every morning one or the other would decide what to wear and, pardon the pun, the other would follow suit.

Now they will be dressing alike in Heaven.

Brent died Tuesday at age 92. Betty died last November at age 90. They had been married 73 years.

Here is my Ramblin' column on Betty and Brent from July 26, 1994:

The Pearsons:

Cut from the same cloth for 20 years

ANAMOSA - Love is a many splendored thing. It is demonstrated in

various ways. It comes in many styles, shapes and sizes.

Love is something you see on Brent and Betty Pearson every day. Because, for the last 20 years or so - rain or shine, summer and winter, in Iowa and Florida - they have dressed alike.

"If we don't dress alike, people will think we're mad at each other," says Brent, 77.

"They'll ask us what's going on," adds Betty, 76.

They sit at their kitchen table, gazing through gazebo-like windows upon their well-kept back lawn. Both wear bright coral polo shirts. She wears a white linen skirt; he wears white linen slacks. If it was cooler outside, they'd don their white linen jackets.

As so often occurs in marriage, this habit of dressing alike just happened. Disco dancing was hot and snazzy dressing was the rage. And, boy, do they love to dance.

"Disco was our favorite," Betty says.

"We do anything but square dancing," adds Brent.

In Eastern Iowa, you're likely to spot them at the Dining Light in Maquoketa or the Elks and VFW clubs in Cedar Rapids or maybe the Prairiemoon Ballroom in Prairieburg. They dance in Oelwein and Walford and Cuba City, Wis., too. One day it'll be the waltz, the next the polka. Revived country-western dancing -- the two-step and three-step and spinning your partner variety -- is now their favorite.

In Anamosa, you'll find them sharing breakfast every Wednesday and Saturday morning at the Casual Cafe. That's where friends are likely to question them if they aren't dressed alike. It's also where you can find them occasionally looking into each other's eyes, reflecting upon how wonderful sharing a lifetime together has been.

Not every couple could dress alike and feel as comfortable about it as Brent and Betty. But you understand why when you learn they've known each other since the second grade.

"He was my boyfriend then," Betty says.

They'd send each other valentines and May baskets and Easter goodies. The relationship lasted through graduation in 1936 from Des Moines Lincoln High School. Neither could afford to attend college, so they went to work. She was a clerk at the H.L. Greene variety store; he tended the produce at a Peter Pan grocery. The stores were a half-mile apart, but they'd visit each other often.

On April 25, 1937, they married. He made $18.90 a week; she made $15.90.

"It was the Depression and we were some of the rich ones," Betty says. "We rented a little house. We had a Chrysler car that his grandpa gave us."

In 1938, Brent became the first one hired at the first A&P supermarket in Iowa in Des Moines. She joined him in 1942. Except for his 25 months in the Army, they've worked together ever since. That included stints in Minneapolis, Mason City, Des Moines, again, and finally, Anamosa, where they bought their own store in 1956.

"We didn't want to be transferred anywhere, any more," Betty says. "The kids cried their eyes out when we left Des Moines, but in a week you couldn't have pried them away from here."

Gretchen and Jane loved Anamosa. They loved visiting mom and dad at

Pearsons' Royal Blue on the corner of Main and Davis. For 20 years Brent handled the merchandise and Betty kept the books.

They sold the store and retired in 1976. Friends asked if they were returning to Des Moines.

"Heavens no," Betty says. "This is home."

They spend winters in Florida but manage real estate investments and live in Anamosa the rest of the year.

And, in the morning, the first one up decides what they'll wear for the day, whether it be grubby cutoffs or their grandma and grandpa shirts or matching jogging suits.

"Most people that go this far are getting along pretty well," Brent says.

He grins at Betty and she returns the smile.

That is true love.