I Believe – My Values

In 1985, Jim and I decided to move to Augusta, Kansas.  A newer neighborhood was developing on the north end of town.  Jim and I found a newer home there, across the street from a park.  It had a big basement for family get-togethers and a back yard perfect for a fish pond.

Jim got busy right away and hand dug the fish pond in the back yard.  It was three feet deep.  We brought in flat rocks to line the outside of the pond, and stocked it with coy and other attractive fish.  We both have a love of wildlife, but I don’t think we enjoyed it as much as the grandkids.  It was always the first place they would go when they would visit.

We put a pool table, ping pong table and a foosball table in the basement.  I think we hosted our and Donna’s extended families every Thanksgiving for eight years.  We have some great memories from that time.  We would always have pool, ping pong and foosball tournaments going on in addition to a whole lot of food and some great visiting and conversation.  Little Alex and Tori sang one year.  It was a great time.

I hope everyone has as great memories of that house and those times as we do.

Our wedding was at 11 am on December 21, 1955.  It was a pleasant day in El Dorado, Kansas – a little cool but pleasant for that time of year.

I bought the wedding dress in El Dorado a couple of weeks before the wedding.  I got it from the wedding section of the Montgomery Ward store on south main street.

Jim was home from the Air Force in New Mexico;  he had two weeks leave.  We got married by the judge in the courthouse in El Dorado.  I was seventeen, and Jim was twenty.

We were actually supposed to get married the day before, but the paperwork – blood test results, etc. – hadn’t come through yet, so we had to reschedule until the next day.  Jim’s mom had taken a couple of days off of work to attend the wedding, but she had to be at work the next day, so she wasn’t able to attend.

My mom was there, and my sister Donna’s husband Dale George was our witness.  Jim said, “We didn’t spend a lot on the wedding.  I think the only money we spent was what we paid to the judge.”

After the service, we took our picture on the courthouse front lawn, and went to Donna and Dale’s home for a while, then took my mom home.  We spent the night at the Kellogg Motel on Kellogg Street on the east side of Wichita.

We stayed at my parents’ home for a couple of days.  “I left the car for Pat to use to finish high school, and I took the bus to Garden City, Kansas, Jim said.  “I caught a ride with a friend back to New Mexico to the Air Force base.  I lived on base, so I could get by without a car until Pat joined me that summer.”