The youngest Klemp brother married the youngest Schuelke sister 25 years ago, finalizing the streak of all siblings of each family being married to one from the other.
Doug Klemp and Denise Scheulke started dating in the mid-1990s. The oldest Schuelke daughters, Toni and Shelly, had already been married to the two oldest Klemp sons, Darrel and Dave, since the 1980s, according to The Post-Crescent.
When Doug and Denise decided to get married, they knew they had to be “all in,” because if they weren’t, family celebrations would be awkward.
"Some of [our guests] told us that when they got their invitations, they simply nodded and said, 'Oh, another Scheulke-Klemp wedding,'" Denise told The Post-Crescent on her wedding day.
All three couples are still married. “We can’t imagine it any other way,” Dave said.
The Klemp boys grew up in Black Creek and the Schuelke girls in Navarino. Donna Stucki, the girls’ aunt and boys’ neighbor, threw a graduation party for her son in 1985. After they met at the party, where Shelly claims she immediately started crushing on Dave, the families kept running into each other.
They both attended a rally with their church youth groups in Colorado. "And that was just the start," Toni said. "The whole week kind of went that way. We ran into them all the time."
Dave and Shelly started dating one day before Toni and Darrel. In 1988 and 1989, there were two Klemp-Schuelke unions.
However, it took the youngest of the Klemp-Schuelke siblings four more years to get together.
Doug and Denise ended their respective relationships, and the siblings decided to set them up. The couples invited Doug and Denise to go with them and their children to the Northeastern Wisconsin Zoo, commonly referred to as the NEW Zoo, in Suamico. According to The Post Crescent, the sisters invited Denise and the brothers invited Doug, but neither wanted to go — until they told them who would be there.
“The universe was always pushing us together," Denise said.
It took a long time, but Denise and Doug finally got together. On one hand, the other siblings were surprised to see them going steady, but part of them knew it had to be fate. After over 30 years, all three couples are still together. They even live near each other — Toni and Darrel in Navarino, Shelly and Dave in Shiocton and Denise and Doug in Black Creek.
“We always have each other to count on,” Toni said.
