Day 58: Since it is still technically the month of love for two more days, and because yesterday was “tell a fairy tale” day, I thought I’d continue with stories this week, and today it’s a tale of love at first sight, in the words of my father. He didn’t begin with Once Upon a Time, so I’ll add it for him.
“Once upon a time, it was the first time I saw NaDine Mallory. I was sixteen and she was twelve. Me and my cousin were sitting in the back of his parents’ new Hudson. We had been to the theater in Shelley to see a show and we were waiting for his older brother to come out to the car, when two girls walked past the car and over to the railroad tracks. One of the girls turned and called “Deanie, come on!”
Then, here came the most beautiful girl I had ever seen. She had on a white stocking cap with a big tassel on top and her hair was down to her shoulders. She had to stop and wait for traffic right next to our parked car and the light from the street lamp shined down and lit up her face. I had never had a feeling like that before. I knew then, that she was going to be my wife someday. After that, every time I saw her, my heart would start to pound.
A year later, when we were in California for Mother’s health, she rode down with my father and sister and stayed with us a couple of days before her aunt picked her up. I sure enjoyed having her there. I asked her if she would like to walk down to the drug store for an ice cream soda. She said yes, and I’ll never forget how elated I was as we sat side by side on those old-fashioned stools at the soda fountain.
A few years later, when I was a senior and she was a freshman, I was at a disadvantage because of my bashfulness, so I asked her friend Francis to ask if she’d go to a show with me. She accepted, and from then on we went together quite often.
I had been classified I-19 in the draft, and in the latter half of 1943 I received my induction papers. Before I left, I talked her into taking my engagement ring. It frightened me to think what might happen if I wasn’t there to look after her. She made me ask permission from both her father and her Grandpa Mallory, after all, she was only sixteen. I don’t know which experience was more terrifying, but I felt much better leaving, knowing that my ring was on her finger, and she wanted it there while I was gone.
I hadn’t been home in almost two years, first trained in Morse Code as a radio operator and then as a gunner. I received orders to report to Tonapah, Nevada to be assigned to a bomber crew for a B-24, so my mom and dad and Deanie came to Nevada to see me before I flew overseas, and we decided to get married. We went to the courthouse in Ely with my folks. The judge was cross-eyed, and we weren’t sure which one of us he was looking at, but we got the job done, anyway. We drove to Salt Lake City for a short honeymoon, and arrived the day before President Heber J. Grant’s funeral. The city was buzzing, but we found a hotel.
The next morning, I went down the block to buy razor blades, and the MPs stopped me and asked for my leave papers. I had put on a clean shirt and left them in the room. They actually followed me back to the hotel and let me get my papers instead of hauling me away. It was the only time in the military I was shown a little humanity. I’m sure grateful I didn’t leave Deanie in that room, wondering what had become of me.”
At this point, I can’t end with THE END because there were fifty more years to their story. But I will tell you this. At my mother’s funeral, one of the speakers shared this: I was sitting in their home one time and I asked Theron “How did you two fall in love?” And he said “Well, I think it was because she was so beautiful, and she’s even more beautiful now.” He said that very convincingly and matter-of-factly, and NaDine perked up and looked at him and said “Theron, that’s only because you can’t see anymore!” And he just smiled and said “I can still see YOU just fine.”
To be continued . . .
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