Invariably, the disc jockey or band leader would ask those married less than one year to leave the dance floor.

As the milestone anniversary rose to five years, 10 years, 20 years, and others sat down, Betty and Cliff would look into each other’s eyes, smile and keep dancing.

Married for 63 years, they knew that by the end of the song, they’d still be dancing.

“Ma and Dad were always the very last ones left on the dance floor,” their daughter-in-law Debbie Bailey said.

Betty J. Bailey, 80, of Kenosha, died Oct. 21, leaving her husband Clifford; children Ronald Bailey, Linda Morris, Gary Bailey, Judy Brenneman and Les Bailey; brothers Tom O’Neal and Cecil O’Neal; sister Maggie Harmon; eight grandchildren; and eight great-grandchildren.

Betty was born in 1928 in Greenway, Ark.

She met her future husband, who had just returned from serving in World War II, in the court square where all the teenagers hung out on a Saturday night.

Cliff had a job lined up on the West Coast. He proposed, and they married in a town near Greenway, but Betty’s parents weren’t thrilled with the situation, because she was about four months short of her 18th birthday.

“Her dad told us, ‘You know, I could have it annulled,’” Cliff said. “She told him, ‘Well, you go right ahead. Won’t do you any good. We’ll just do it again.’”

Betty later told Cliff she accepted his marriage proposal because she didn’t want him to leave without her.

Betty was a full-time homemaker when her children were little.

Her children said she endured water balloon fights and once, even a mashed potato fight, with good humor.

The Baileys eventually followed other members of Betty’s family and settled in Kenosha, where the last of their children were born.

She later did office work at L.C. Thomsen and Kenosha Auto Transport.

Betty’s Sunday dinners of fried chicken or roasts were legendary, and having the family eat a meal together was important to Betty, even when Cliff worked second shift.

“During the summer, we’d have to come home and have a family dinner at 1:30 or 2 o’clock in the afternoon,” son Ron Bailey said.

Betty could satisfy anyone’s sweet tooth, but she outdid herself during the holidays with varieties of fudge, potato candy and peanut butter candy.

For her youngest grandson’s wedding, she and Cliff made the peanut butter candy decorations for the three-tiered groom’s cake.

Betty was known to spoil the last and favorite “child,” the couple’s poodle Sissy, who enjoyed multiple baskets of dog toys in the house.

About 1969 the couple got involved in square dancing and were members of the Allemande Square Dancing Club and later the Moose Club square dancing group. They were joined by three of their children and their significant others in the activity.

“They got hooked,” daughter Judy said. “And they hooked each one of their kids here in town to join them.”

“We had a Baileys square,” Cliff explained.

Betty’s square dancing outfits were complete with can-cans and petticoats. The couple enjoyed square dancing for about 25 years.

During the war, Cliff traveled extensively. After he retired in 1987, Betty wanted to see the world, so they took two trips to Europe in the early 1990s: the first to Ireland and the second to England, Scotland and Wales.

Betty and Cliff’s 63 years of marriage set the standard, their children said, giving them a goal for their own loving relationships.