It was an ordinary day. Reading about a time in April, 1959 that a girl named Charlotte and her best friend Sandy were walking down East King Street on their way to the Strand Theatre to watch a movie. While walking, they saw two sailors dressed in their white uniforms sitting on the steps at the USO Club. Charlotte was just a country girl of 18 years old at the time. When Charlotte laid eyes on the sailor sitting on the outside of the step, she thought to herself, "I would love to marry that guy." "I said...Charlotte, forget it. He won't want anything to do with you because you are too heavy," I wasn't really at all, but in my head I ihtought I was. As we got closer, he started talking to me and I told him that we were going to the movie theatre. He asked if he could walk with me and I said that would be great. I fell in love with this guy when I first laid eyes on him. We walked to the theatre and he told me his name was Roy. When we arrived at the theater he said to me, "If this movie isn't any good, you're going to owe me some money." I thought he was serious! He did put his arm around me in the movie theatre. When the movie was over, I asked him about owing him money if he didn't like it. He told me he was only teasing and he was sorry if I thought he was serious. Roy and his friend walked back to my car with us. I had a 1948 Chevy two-door coupe that my dad bought for me for $100 at Wiggins Chevrolet in Marticville. I paid him back $10 each month by getting a job after graduating from high school. As we drove down Prince Street to what is now Willow Street Pike, I pulled into Buchmiller Park. We got out of the car and talked a while, getting to know each other better. I learned he was from Missouri, but stationed at Bainbridge Naval Base in Maryland. We exchanged phone numbers (as well as some hugs and kisses!) then I drove Roy and his buddy back into town. I was really feeling that this guy liked me. Whenever he would have a weekend pass, he would come to meet my family. They loved Roy as I did, too. On August 3, 1959, we were married. Money was very tight in those days and since my father worked for the railroad, he couldn't afford to take off work for the wedding. My mother drove us to Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland where we were married in the chapel. Because we didn't have much money, Roy just wore his Navy uniform and I wore a two-piece dress that I already had. When we arrived home at our small apartment in Port Deposit, Maryland, my mother made us a special dinner and chocolate cake for dessert. There was no place to do laundry so I had to use the bathtub to wash out our clothes. I dried our clothes on a wash line hanging out our window - the kind with a pulley. One day I dropped Roy's white Navy pants and, of course, they got dirty so I had to walk down three flights of stairs, bring them back up and wash them again. Roy was discharged from the Navy in 1962 and we had our first son, Roy Jr. We decided to move to Missouri, where he was from, and lived there for 10 years. Roy came to see me one day and said, "Honey, I think it's time we go back to Pennsylvania." I asked him why and he said that he didn't feel that his mother was treating me like she should, so back to Pennsylvania we came - and my family loved him. We had two more sons named Robert and Richard. Unfortunately, our oldest son, Roy Jr.. passed away from cancer at the age of 60. We had been married for 64 years when Roy passed away. By God's grace and listening to gospel muisic, I am doing well, but I miss him terribly. Before he passed away, he told me that he was going to walk real slow so I could catch up with him in heaven. I reminded him that I had my own health issues so it probably wouldn't be all that long and life will be perfect with God. It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.
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