Sitting here, reflecting on the last 50 years…..where has the time gone??? It seems just like yesterday Guy and I were beginning this journey together.
We had just graduated from Fort Hays State University with Bachelor’s degrees – his in agriculture and mine in nursing. A whole life ahead of us! What would it bring? We graduated on Monday and married the following Friday in the Nazarene Church in Hays. Mom and Dad had sold the grocery store in Little River, KS, and moved to Iola that January of 1968. I didn’t know anyone in Iola, and the church where I grew up in Lyons, KS was too far away to coordinate any plans for a wedding there, so we decided to have it in Hays, where we had been attending church for 4 years while in college. I had lots of help from the church ladies and the mother of my maid of honor, Carol Henderson. It was a small wedding with two attendants – Carol and my sister, Colleen. My sister-in-law, Karen, played the organ, and my brother, Carl, sang. I don’t recall right at the moment what the songs were – I think one was “Because.” No wedding would be complete without that song! My niece, Carla, was the flower girl. Guy’s best man was Keith Garey, his 2ndcousin, and the other male attendant was Wesley Galyon, a high school friend.
My sister, Colleen is on the left, (in the picture), and my niece, Carla, is standing by her. My maid of honor, Carol, is on the right.
My brother, Carl, is clear to the left, and Karen next to him.
The wedding and reception went off without a hitch. Lots of unwrapped presents were placed in the back seat of Guy’s car, a 1068 Chevy Chevelle SS, and we took off down the street with others following behind. It was not long until we heard a small voice coming from the back seat under all the gifts. “How far are you going to go, Uncle Guy?” We screeched to a halt and let Bruce, Guy’s nephew, out. My brother had placed him there. (By the way, today is the 6thanniversary of my brother’s homegoing. How I miss his sense of humor!) I guess he got picked up by those chasing us. 😀
We drove to Salina, KS, and stayed in a hotel off the interstate. We decided to unload and open all our gifts.
The next day we went through the Eisenhower Museum in Abilene. We didn’t have any money for a fancy honeymoon, so we did the next best thing. Mom and Dad were leaving immediately after the wedding for a vacation Dad had won through his insurance company, so they said we could spend our honeymoon at their house in Iola. Colleen was staying with a couple in the church. As we pulled up to their house, another car pulled up also. Out of that car jumped Colleen (5 years younger than me). She yelled back at the church couple, “Oh! Never mind my having to stay with you! My sister is here!!” Uhhhh…..that’s OK, Colleen……you go ahead and stay with them……. 😀
Our 1sthome was a double-wide mobile home out in the country on some of the farm property, about ¼ mile from Guy’s parents’ place. We only lived there for a very short time. Due to some financial issues Guy’s brother had, we had to move from the double-wide into his brother’s house and his brother moved into the double-wide. That house was about ¾ mile south of the home place.
I was working as a nurse, 3-11 in Lyons, about 10 miles away, and Guy was working on the farm for his dad. 6 months into our marriage, the dreaded draft noticecame in the mail. He left for basic training in Ft. Eustes, MO. I remember Mom and Dad taking me there in a terrible snow storm. I don’t know if it was to take him there or to get him when it was over. While he was in basic training, our pastor’s wife (in Lyons) got concerned about me going home each night from work, near midnight, and driving by myself up that long driveway to a big empty house. They invited me to come live with them while Guy was gone. And I did. Such a nice gesture they offered me.
When Guy finished basic training, his next assignment was in Newport News, VA. I’m not sure what he did there, but as soon as he was able to live off the base, I moved there. I packed my car as full as I could, and Mom and I drove there – drove straight through, and then she flew home. We lived in a little rented mobile home. As I recall, pretty much all I did all day was knit afghans and watch soap operas. There was nothing else to do during the daytime since Guy took the car each day. That assignment lasted a few months, and then the dreaded assignment came - Viet Nam! 😢 This is what we all dreaded, but knew was inevitable. And to make matters worse, he left for Viet Nam the day of our 1stanniversary. I’ll never forget it. It was devastating! I took him to the airport in Wichita to tell him a very tearful goodbye – not knowing, of course, if I would ever see him again.
My bags were packed with pretty much all my belongings, and when I left Guy in Wichita, I headed east to Iola to stay with my parents for the time he was in Viet Nam which was to be a year.
I got a job immediately in the Iola Hospital. I think it was on the maternity unit. But it wasn’t long until Mom and Dad moved to Hutchinson, KS, to continue his work in insurance, and I moved with them. I immediately got a job on the maternity unit of Grace Hospital (no longer in existence). I worked nights. I would work 11-7 and sleep most of the day, getting up for a few hours in the evening, and go back to work. Work and sleep……work and sleep……trying to pass the time quickly. I wrote Guy every single day – did not miss a day. To this day, I know Guy’s SS number by heart because it was part of his address. He wrote me pretty regularly, also.
About 7-8 months into Guy’s deployment, I met him in Hawaii on his R&R for a week. We waited that long, so that it would be a shorter time until he was home. As it turned out, he stayed an extra 37 days in Viet Nam, and then he could come home and get an early out – be done!! That was a loooong 37 days!!! He had trained to be a door-gunner in a helicopter, but ended up with most of his time on the ground as a technical inspector. It was a glorious - and THANKFUL day - when he made it home safely!!!
I know a lot of guys came home from Viet Nam and had many issues. I can honestly say that I don’t think it changed Guy much. I think if you went over there with your head on straight, you came home with it on straight. I’m proud of him for serving his time, and deeply thankful he made it home unharmed.
After Guy’s discharge, he took a job working for a well/irrigation company, and we lived in a little apartment in Lyons. I worked just down the street in the doctor’s clinic. There were 3 doctors there. Those are some of my fondest memories as an RN.
I became pregnant with Mark during this time, and shortly before he was born, Guy took a job managing a feed lot about 50 miles west of Lyons between Great Bend and St. John. We bought a new 14x70 singlewide mobile home – the largest singlewide they made at the time – and moved it onto the edge of the feedlot. It was really nice inside, and I enjoyed living in it. I worked 3-11 in the small St. John hospital. I would take Mark to the home of a nice farm couple just down the road with some little girls who just loved having a baby to play with. They would keep him until Guy got done working, and he would go pick him up and take care of him for the evening until I got off at 11.
I delivered Mark at the Lyons hospital since my doctor was one that I had worked for. Colleen came to stay with me for a few days after I got home. I had a bleeding episode the day after going home. Colleen stayed with Mark, and Guy drove me (hurriedly) back to Lyons. Just before getting there, a water hose came off the pickup, and we were stranded on the side of the road. Guy only had one wrench in the truck to work with. He got the hose connected again but had to walk to the nearest farm house to get water to put back in the truck. No one was home! But he found a little water in an outside container and walked back to the pickup with it. It was enough to get us on into Lyons. Meanwhile, as I lay there in the seat of the truck, I was convinced that I was bleeding to death!! Miraculously, when I arrived at the hospital, the bleeding had stopped – never did know what caused it, but it didn’t return for the few hours they made me wait, and we went back home.
To be continued at a later date…….
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