FARMINGTON – Every day, Jon and Lois Bubier have a date to meet for lunch and another to meet for supper.

Otherwise, they might not see much of each other during their 12- to 16-hour work days even though they work together.

A chance meeting at Farmington Fair when they were about 16 has grown into a 26-year marriage and ownership of Ron’s Market and redemption center and 53 rental properties.

Growing up near the fairgrounds, Lois and some friends were taking a few rides on the last night of the fair in 1978, she said. She wanted to go on the Zipper one more time and when her friends declined, Jon, standing nearby, said, “‘I’ll go with you.'”

Once in line for the ride, he told her he didn’t have any tickets and no money, she said. She got the tickets and while they rode and twirled in the air, he finally asked her name, she said.

The next morning found Jon, who grew up in West Farmington, in a phone booth trying to find her number. When he couldn’t, he walked to her home and knocked on the door to ask how she spelled her name.

Her maiden name, Makinen, is pronounced like McKennan, he said.

After marrying, the couple spent hours together buying, fixing and renting properties. Employed by International Paper for 16 years, Jon worked 12-hour shifts averaging 14 days off a month.

“I’d get bored so we started acquiring property. While others were buying toys like four-wheelers and snowmobiles, I wanted to accomplish something so we started buying houses,” he said.

He’d work all day, then the couple would work most of the night on the newest property, she said.

A few years ago they acquired a trailer park and the market, all in the neighborhood where she grew up near the fairgrounds.

“He has things that he’s good at and I have mine,” she said explaining how she does the bookkeeping and manages the store while he fixes things and runs the bottle redemption business.

“It just all blurs together,” he said. “I have a typical honey-do list as long as my arm, but then there’s also a list of projects needing to be done for the rental properties . . . it’s a constant battle figuring out what to do first.”

She also keeps him in line, she said. “When he gets going so far over the line, I say, ‘No more spending,'” she added.

“We live to work, all for the kids . . . the kids being our three dogs,” he said.

The couple has a daughter in nursing school.

When Bubier decided to run for selectman in Farmington, the couple made a decision: It had to be kept out of the store.

“Some people come in and want to debate what the town is doing,. but not in our business,” he said.

In the past three years, the couple have turned around what was a slowing market business.

“‘Course we work nine days a week. We work harder now than we ever have, but we’re looking ahead and trying to make decisions that will affect our eventual retirement, although I figure I’ll still be working even then,” he said.