Because new friends in the knitting group kindly asked about Bill and me, and our history, I was reminded of a blog post from several years ago that marks our beginnings.
I was seventeen.
I found a summer job right after high school. The company put up screen enclosures around swimming pools and I was a “gopher” (go fer this – go fer that) handing out paychecks to the construction workers. Among them was a handsome, deeply tanned, dark haired fellow named William.
That first day I went home and excitedly reported, “Mom, I met a man – not a boy – a twenty one year old man! And he looks just like Tony Curtis!”
For those of you too young to know who Tony Curtis was – he was a much beloved movie star with adoring fans.
Do you see a resemblance?
One of these pictures is of the famous film star, Tony Curtis.
The one in uniform is Bill when I first met him, when he just got out of the U.S. Air Force.
My Dad was from the old school and he referred to Bill as “the bum” because he came calling in flip flops (rubber thong shoes) and a white t-shirt with one sleeve rolled up to hold a pack of cigarettes.
That was the in image of the day, or as they say today, he was “cool” or is it “he was hot?”
My old-fashioned European Dad still believed a man should come courting in white shirt and tie so Bill didn’t live up to parental expectations.
Of course, that didn’t stop us. We waited three more years before getting married in the local courthouse.
The picture below is of our wedding day and you can see my father’s unhappy stance in the background.
We both went back to our jobs after the wedding, with Bill working nights and attending university during the day. I was a secretary in a real estate appraiser’s office.
Dad predicted Bill would divorce me after he graduated from college. But he was so wrong because Bill did graduate, became a civil engineer, eventually retired, and we have been married now for over 50 years!
Virginia Views 