Mom and Dad Young and In Love in the 1940's

They were young and in love. It was the early 1940's. What a love story. My father was working as a sailor on the Great Lakes in 1943. His ship entered the port of Duluth, Minnesota having crossed Lake Superior. While in port on a Sunday morning he went to a little church in Duluth, where he met my grandparents. Having loving and warm hearts my grandparents invited this sailor home for Sunday dinner. There he saw my mom's picture on the mantel. He feel in love with that face and had to meet her. That Sunday she was working at the Asian Restaurant in downtown Duluth. Within days he went to the restaurant and introduced himself to her. That was May of 1943. He courted her the over the next weeks and on October 30, 1943 they married in that little church.

That love story lasted until Mama died in 1998. At that time my Dad was suffering from dementia. I feel somewhere deep within him he still remembered that beautiful young woman.

Over the next 55 years they had their good times and their hard times. Shortly after marrying they moved to Texas and went to Bible College in San Antonio where my dad graduated as a minister. The picture above is from that time and place. I was born in 1948, my sister in 1950. Mama got polio in 1953 and was not expected to live, but with God's good graces' she came out of the hospital and raised us. There were 2 more children born both boys. The first was named after my father but was premature and passed away within 3 days. In 1963 my brother David was born.

There are so many memories of my parents. They were fantastic. Warm and loving to not only us but also to each other and their families. We grew up in a close knit Christian home. Church was a weekly function. We had great times then with many memories and stories to share at another time. This is just the start of my parents story. They are both gone in body with my dad passing away last September. I still feel them around me everyday. I am lucky to have had both of them for as long as I did and I miss them terribly. I hope that some day my boys will remember me with the fondness that I have for my parents.