An Odd Love Story

This Friday I made a marathon trip down to Uvalde, TX, a small town an hour and a half west of San Antonio, where my parents grew up. I left Waco around 11:00 on Friday morning, stayed with my mom in San Antonio that night and then left SA at 7:30 the next morning so I could be at work on time.

I went to Uvalde to visit my Grandad (dad’s dad) who has been in the hospital for about two weeks. He had a stroke two weeks ago and this week he was going in and out of a coma. He would start to improve in his health every time one of the grandkids would call or come to visit. He didn’t know that I was coming and he lit up when I entered the room late Friday afternoon. He is starting to do better, but he also has diabetes so that is making his situation more complicated.

While I was in the hospital room Grandad fell asleep and Meemaw (dad’s mom) and I started reminiscing the past. I had never heard the story of how they met so I took the opportunity to hear the story from her.

Much to my surprise, they had known each other for two years before they ever met. How, you ask? I had the same question. My Grandad, (James) was 21 and serving in WWII. My Meemaw, (Catherine) was 17 and friends with James’s sister-in-law. His sister-in-law was writing letters to him to keep him company. She was getting pretty busy and writing letters started to become a hassle, so she asked Catherine if she would take over. Being the good little Nazarene and southern girl that she was, she obeyed the words of her mother and said she would only write him if he wrote first. A few weeks later, she received a letter from him.

That letter was the beginning of a correspondence that lasted for two years while James was overseas. They each wrote about a letter a day. The letters eventually turned into love letters and they also sent pictures to each others. Catherine once had an 8X10 portrait made for a steep ten dollar charge. (Keep in mind that this was about 60 years ago.) She wanted to send it to him, but her mom refused to let her out of concern that James was just lonely and not committed to this girl he’d only conversed with through letters. (The portrait hangs on the wall of their bedroom right nest to a portrait of James in his uniform.)

After about two years passed, James finally found his opportunity to come home to the states. Catherine knew he was coming and she anxiously awaited her opportunity to finally meet him. Days, and then weeks passed by and though James was home, he never called Catherine. After not hearing from him for over a month, Catherine began to date a young man who had been interested in her for quite some time. She had decided to settle for second best. They hadn’t dated long before he proposed and Catherine said “yes.”

Not even a full day later, James finally decided to call Catherine. Catherine told him her exciting news. She said that she would send him an invitation to the wedding and that they would get to meet there. A few weeks passed, and Catherine decided to break off her engagement. About a month later, she wanted to talk to James. She contacted his sister-in-law to find out where he was at so they could try to meet each other. She called him only to find out that he was engaged. He let her know that he would send her an invitation to his wedding and they could meet there.
A few weeks later, Catherine received a phone call from James. He wanted to let her know that he had broken off his engagement awhile back and he wanted to try to meet her. Excited about finally getting to meet the man of her letters who was no longer engaged, she agreed. He was going to be in her town and he agreed to pick her up when she got off of work at seven.

Catherine went to the local department store and picked out a ravishing twenty-four dollar dress to wear for the occasion. (Again, keep in mind that this was about 60 years ago.) She made it through the hours at work for what seemed like days until finally seven o’clock came around. She waited impatiently through her excitement for James to come. Minutes passed and more minutes passed, and James never came. Catherine had to call her dad to come pick her up from work.

The next day, Catherine had off of work and since her mother was out of town she decided to spend her day cleaning the house. In the middle of vacuuming, the phone rang. It was James. He apologized for the previous day and explained that he was having car trouble and that was why he was unable to make it. He had finally made it to her town and as it turned out, he was only about five minutes from Catherine’s house. She agreed to see him, but she was so upset because she wasn’t wearing her twenty-four dollar dress. Instead she was decked out in her cleaning attire which consisted of “old worn-out slacks and an ugly buttoned shirt.” She decided that he had missed his chance though and she was not going to change for him.

The long awaited day of meeting finally came. James showed up at Catherine’s house and after a few minutes of conversation, James asked Catherine out on their first date. The time for the date that evening was set for seven o’clock. James was right on time and Catherine was wearing her twenty-four dollar dress.

Though they lived in separate towns, James and Catherine saw each other nearly everyday for the next month. On a day that Catherine was not expecting to see him, he surprised her at her house. This was the day that he proposed to her and they were married a few hours later in a very untraditional wedding.

Though their relationship sounds like a slowly developing fling and a short-term infatuation, it turned into fifty-eight years of marriage. On their fiftieth anniversary, their five kids and spouses and seven grandchildren came together to plan an anniversary ceremony in which James and Catherine renewed their vows with the long-standing pastor of their Nazarene church.

“Though it hasn’t always been easy, it has been the biggest blessing and most prevalent act of God’s grace in my life,” said my Meemaw as she finished her story in the hospital room. My Grandad was lying in the hospital bed with a smile on his face, listening the whole time while pretending to be asleep.