We love love and we want to share stories from real couples falling in love and getting engaged and married! Today is a very special edition of Fiance Friday. Meet Bob and Marty, or as I like to call them, grandma and grandpa.
Love Story
As told by Bob
Our love story began when I dropped out of Purdue for a semester and began selling Studebakers and Packards. (Who remembers those?) I had been romancing a girl from Purdue and another sweet thing who lived in Dayton, OH. The Dayton, OH gal was involved in horses and I had met her at a horse show, (I had been a groom for a rich guy and his Tennessee Walking horses.) The gal from Purdue ended up being a bit too clingy for my taste, so when my buddy invited me to go to Chicago for a blind date, I said sure. My good buddy, Courtney was dating a girl who was going to Kendall College in Evanston, IL. That girl happened to be Marty’s sister Sandy. I’m convinced that Courtney wanted to defray expenses a bit for the back and forth travel.
And there she was, this cute blond haired blue-eyed gal that was still in High School. I liked what I saw and felt as soon as I met her. She was what you would call a wholesome American girl. That first date began a long romance (mostly by letter).
The more I got to know her through her letters to me, the more I knew that I was falling for this girl. Like sort of turned to love so I was encouraging Courtney to make more trips. I went back for another semester to Purdue before volunteering for the military draft. During that semester, I was living in a private home with 7 other guys and my roommate encouraged me to show Marty that I was more serious than I was letting her know. At the end of that semester, I did go into Uncle Sam’s army and got shipped off to Ft Hood, TX for my basic training. After basic, the US Army wanted me to go into the artillery and I decided that was a deal breaker for me. I re-upped and added a year to my service so that I could go to Electronics school in Ft Gordon, GA.
During my leave between Ft Hood and Ft Gordon, I decided to ask her daddy if I could marry her (her folks had moved from Chicago to Cleveland, so it was now a 7 hour drive one way to make my declaration). He gave me his blessing and so we were officially engaged!
While at Ft Gordon, I missed her so much, that I convinced her that we should get married right now. So with only a few army buddies, my Mom & Dad, and an aunt and uncle as witnesses, we were married in an army chapel. My best friend from back home, Terry Brock and my (now brother-in-law), Max drove down to Ft Gordon overnight in Terry’s Porsche and stood up for me as best man.
We were so poor, we couldn’t pay attention, but we were in love and away from all family, so we made do in a very small apartment. (You had to go through the bathroom to get to the bedroom & the kitchen was once a closet [You had to go outside to change your mind – it was that’s small]).
We had attended the Army chapel for church service with the chaplain that married us. Being Baptist, it was getting the hell scared out of us each Sunday, so we went back to my roots and found a big Methodist church in downtown Augusta. Those early roots in the church and a small group helped us become the couple we are today.
I’m totally convinced that God has a wonderful plan for your life. How else do you explain a guy from Peru, IN ( a town of 14,000) meeting and eventually marrying a gal from Chicago, IL (with several million people).
Long story – short, Marty and I got married at Ft Gordon, GA. October 27, 1956. She was only 18 and I was 22. Now, nearly 60 years, six kids, and 17 grandkids later- we are so blessed it is hard to believe it is our story. She is cuter, sweeter and smarter than the day I married her and I’m one lucky guy.
59 Plus Years and More in Love Today Than When We Started
Lend the Love 