Celebrating 40 years of Marriage :-)

YEAH!!!! I don't think either one of us thought we would be alive today to celebrate... we managed to survive our children's teen years though :-)

Frank spent his first four years of life in Alabama. He moved to Albany Georgia after his father's death. Not long after coming to Albany he brought home a nice young Marine that his mother soon fell in love with and married. They had to move away from Albany. They did return to Albany and I met Frank when he was in the sixth grade and I in the fifth grade. Of course I paid no mind to him then... he was just one of Zarone's (my brother) friends.

During our junior high school and part of our high school years we waited at the same school bus stop and sat on the same school bus and paid little mind to each other. When I was in the eleventh grade our mutual friend, Bonnie, formally introduced us. We were in a hall of the school when this happened and Frank was holding a little redhead girls's hand.

During my youth I often heard a voice (one that others could not hear.. and it was scary for me that no one else could hear this voice) that told me things... some would say it was the Holy Ghost or perhaps a Guardian Angel or I was just nuts. In my twenties the voice stopped. I tell you this because the voice spoke to me while we were standing in that hallway. It told me that I would marry this young man one day. Of course I didn't believe it.

After that day we started sitting together on the school bus. We sat there on the bus talking for a while and then later that evening I would get a phone call from Frank. After a while we started dating. Daddy was not too keen on that. Zarone had to put in a good word or two. Our first date was on a Tuesday night... a school night. My Daddy really needed a lot of convincing.

One day I'm going to look back into newspapers and find exactly what the date of this date was... I know most of you ladies remember such things. The date was a double date. We went to see The Planet of the Apes. Neither one of us like the movie to this day.

Afterward we went to the Arctic Bear, a hamburger and ice cream joint, for a hamburger and Coke. The business is now a thing of the past. The sign to the place was a big polar bear licking an ice cream cone. It was really neat looking lit up at night.

We didn't go together to Frank's senior prom... yep.. the little redhead went with him. She had moved away... those long-distance relationships don't last ;-)

We did go to my senior prom in June of 1969. Don't you just love Polaroid pictures.

After many dates Frank told me that one day I would become his wife. I agreed... I could no longer argue with the voice. I knew he was the one for me and I for him. There was no need for a proposal :-)

We got married a few weeks after my graduation from high school. Here is a scan of a photograph of a photograph. The other choice is a very beat up Polaroid picture :-)

Mama made the cake. She decorated it with red roses. The table is green Formica. The walls were paneled and we are sitting on the bench that my Daddy usually sat upon. My Daddy added the dining room to the house... the house I had lived in since I was five years old. The dining room was made up from the utility room and part of the carport. The dining room held the table, a buffet, Mama's sewing machine and a large oak desk. The table was next to the wall because there had to be a path to walk from the kitchen to the living room. The bench we are sitting upon is covering pipes. My place at the table was to the left of Daddy. I was trapped in the corner :-)

You can tell how small the (yellow) kitchen is and that is where the seven of us used to eat before the dining room was built. I was Daddy's helper in the building process... handing him nails and holding boards as he sawed them. Daddy was an Atlanta Braves fan :-)

This photo was taken last year at Capitol Reef National Park. We are now both a little thinner and trying to get more thinner :-)

Twenty years in the Army and the rest in civilian life; here we are 40 years later with two grown children. There are never going to be grandchildren, but that is okay.

We were told by many people that our marriage would never last a year. It has been nice to prove them wrong.