A happy birthday 36 years in the making
By Kevin Behr / Winona Daily News
Monday, December 17, 2007

Sonya Kratch blindfolded her passenger with a sleep mask and drove him to the parking lot of the Winona Middle School at about 10 a.m. Sunday.

When she pulled into the lot, the mask was removed, and her husband’s first thought was, “she must be crazy.” He didn’t say anything out loud, though.

“He was speechless,” Sonya said. “He just stared.”

Gary Kratch’s eyes focused on a 1978 Silver Anniversary Chevrolet Corvette — with a paint job resembling the 1970s-era Batmobile and a red bow on the mirror — sitting in the parking lot. It was his 60th birthday present.

“My birthday’s not for three days,” he said. “I really had no idea.”

With a big smile stretched across his face, Gary marveled at the

re-upholstered white leather seats, the gear shifter complete with classic Corvette logo and the utterly useless side mirrors that show nothing but the car’s oversized fenders.

He held the driver’s manual, fiddled with the dash instruments and noted the odometer: just 70,000 miles.

“I’ve got a lot of reading to do,” he said.

Sonya spent the past 36 years of married life with Gary squirreling money away into her private savings account just in case something like Sunday’s event might come along.

For their 25th wedding anniversary, she bought him a 50-inch big-screen TV.

Then she was going to save the money for one of their kids’ weddings, but instead decided to buy her husband the Corvette about a month ago as a “retirement hobby.”

Gary climbed in and turned the key in the ignition. Without hesitation, the 30-year-old automobile roared to life with a satisfactory growl.

He took it for a quick spin down Homer Road and back and vowed to put it straight in the garage when he got home just three blocks away.

It won’t move until next summer when the couple will probably show the car at the Lakeview Drive Inn on Wednesday nights.

Sonya said she wants to grow her hair out to a ponytail and get a poodle skirt for the occasion and join the Corvette Club.

“I thought he was excited when he got the John Deere riding mower, but this is something else!” Sonya said after she climbed out of the passenger seat.

Michael Walter used to show the car at the Lakeview Drive Inn and sold it to Sonya a week ago. It had been in storage and was started for the first time in months Sunday.

It was a bittersweet parting, Walter’s wife Paula Walter said, but now that the Corvette is gone, Michael will have plenty of time to work on his 1964 Ford Galaxie and enjoy his sailboat.

The Kratches will be spending Christmas in Florida and are leaving in a few days. Much to Gary’s chagrin.

“Now I can’t wait to get back, and I haven’t even left yet,” he said.

Contact Kevin Behr at (507) 453-3524 or at kbehr@winonadailynews.com.