Lucille and Ed Propp, who retired to Penticton 30 years ago, have donated $30,000 to the South Okanagan Similkameen Medical Foundation’s $20-million campaign to provide the medical equipment for the Penticton Regional Hospital expansion.

Ed and Lucille Propp could probably thank the polka for their 31 years of marriage. It all started one evening in 1985. Although they both lived in the small town of Kamsack, Sask., they had never met until they coincidentally attended the same singles dance – about 80 kms away in Yorkton. Lucille recalled trying to teach Ed how to dance the heel-and-toe polka. “He didn’t quite get it,” she said with a laugh. “But what got me was his smile.” Ed was a heavy equipment operator for the area’s rural municipality, while Lucille worked for 20 years as the assistant to the administrator of Kamsack’s small hospital. Shortly after their marriage, they decided to retire to Penticton where other family members were already residing. This was the second marriage for them both. Ed has two children and two-stepchildren plus four grandchildren and a number of great-grandchildren, while Lucille has three children, four grandchildren and eight great-grandkids. Now the Propps have made a $30,000 donation to the South Okanagan Similkameen Medical Foundation’s campaign to provide $20 million in medical equipment for the Penticton Regional Hospital expansion.