Strong v. Wood

LARSON, Justice.

Sometime in 1976 Philander L. (“Mike”) Strong and the plaintiff, then Ruby Ester-ley, became acquainted. At that time Mike was a 76-year-old farmer who had lived by himself in rural Pocahontas County since the death of his wife Velma in 1968; Ruby was a 66-year-old widow living in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Their relationship progressed to the point where Mike proposed to her in October, 1976; Ruby, however, did not “make up her mind” to marry him until December, 1976.

In late November and early December, 1976, Mike vacationed in Hawaii. When he returned to Iowa before the…