55 YEARS AND LIFE IS GOOD

Marlene and I celebrated our 55th wedding anniversary here in Anchorage August 30th. In case you’re wondering, when we married in 1953 she was 19 and I was 20. We were married in Valdosta, Georgia where I was attending Air Force Advanced Instrument training, and checking out in the F94C Starfire interceptor at Moody Air Force Base. I soloed the F94C the morning after our marriage.

I met Marlene (Wagner) on a blind date (she was “blind” date – I wasn’t) in 1952, when I was an Aviation Cadet at Malden Air Base, Missouri. My roommate Cadet Don Carter had a date in Dexter, Missouri – 12 miles north of Malden. He didn’t have wheels. I did: a 1941 Oldsmobile Club Coupe. Marlene and I, Don and his date Betty, drove to East Cape Girardeau, Illinois for dinner and dancing to big band music at the Purple Crackle, a fine supper club in those days.

When I graduated in June 1953 from Aviation Cadets at Webb AFB, Big Springs, Texas, Marlene and I became engaged. She pinned my Air Force wings and second lieutenant’s bars at the Cadet graduation ceremony. We’re now the proud parents of six kids, grandparents of 19, and great-grandparent on one. Life is good!