3:00 p.m. - 2008-04-10
APRIL 10, 1965
APRIL 11, 1965 was the date of the worst tornados to hit our area of the country. It was described as the worst tornado outbreak in U.S. history to hit several Midwest states, leaving more than 250 people dead, 1,500 injured and property damage approaching half a billion dollars. Following that deadly tornado outbreak, the NOAA National Weather Service underwent changes to improve severe weather forecasts and warnings, including establishing the Watch and Warning Program that exists today and the weather spotter program, SKYWARN.
Fortunately, my husband and I were out of town. In fact we were in Ontario, Canada at Niagara Falls.
We were on our honeymoon. We got married on April 10, 1965. Although we had stayed in Elkhart, Indiana on our wedding night, we got up very early and starting driving for Canada. It was fortunate because the motel where we had stayed was hit by the tornado. Our marriage could have started out with a disaster.
We met in our sophomore year in high school. I had just transferred from another school because my family had purchased a home in the new school district. We were in the same homeroom and we were introduced by a girl who had known my husband since they were in 2nd or 3rd grade. I think we had an instant liking for each other but neither of us was ready to start dating. It took until our last semester in our senior year for us to actually go on a date. We also went to the Senior Prom and started going "steady" in May of our senior year.
My dress was a short pale yellow chiffon. Of course, I had shoes dyed to match and my hair was a short dark brunette bob style.
We wore each other's class ring. I had yellow angora yarn wrapped around his ring so I could wear it on my finger. He wore my ring on a chain around his neck. We had matching sweatshirts and sweaters. We were so.....cute!
So we continued to date after high school; I went to a business school in town and he got a job. I graduated from school and got a job. We decided to get married in 1965. We were not 21 yet. I had a girlfriend who had eloped to Michigan (which is about 9 miles north of where we lived in Indiana). She explained how we could do the same thing.
We decided we didn't want to wait until we both were 21 so we planned a ceremony with a Justice of the Peace in Niles, Michigan. We had the girl who had originally introduced us as our maid of honor and another friend as best man. We had a few family members who attended.
I remember listening to the vows and hoping that "until death do you part" would be a very long time away.
We had a small wedding reception in the Community Hall of the apt. complex where my husband had rented an apt. We bought the bare necessities for furniture and had enough money left to go to Canada for 3 days. We felt so grown up!
And we did grow up......
During our marriage, we have lived in several homes, had a son, and watched him grow from a 7 and 1/2 lb baby to an adult. We changed jobs, changed and worked on our careers and went through plenty of family related issues. Currently, we have our own home, our son is married and we are expecting our first step great-grandchild in August. What a long and busy marriage we have had.
We got married as a very naive, young couple. We had our ideals and our standards, our dreams and our desires, happy times and a few sad ones too. We learned about life together, the good and the bad. We figured out what we wanted out of life and we did it together. We shared our secrets and kept each other close. We gave each other a safe place to be ourselves.
When I think about our life together, it is just what I wanted and more than I ever hoped it could be. I am so very lucky.
It's been 43 years of living with my most trusted best friend, a wonderful companion, a loving husband and a very good man.
We have been married 2/3rd of our lives!!!! It is difficult to remember a time when we did not know each other. I used to tell people that our marriage was arranged before we were conceived....and many of them believed me.
Here's hoping we have many, many, many more years together!
Happy Anniversary to my husband!
