This is the first in a series we hope to conduct over the next few months. Following is a real-life story of a couple’s love, marriage and life. Although its a bit long, we think you’ll be inspired and encouraged.
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Winters are long and cold in Minnesota.
Jim remembers heating jars of water to place in his bed for warmth as his room was on the top floor. There were days he awoke to find the jar kicked to the floor and a layer of ice capping the lid. Heat was expensive and his abusive dad was out of the picture which left Jim’s mom struggling to make ends meet for her young family. Even moderate Midwesterners will occasionally turn up their nose at a poor family hanging on by a thread. And so, this rambunctious boy grew up with little supervision, an eye for mischief, and belly full of desire to escape that small town and make something of himself.
Sally was the apple of her daddy’s eye and doted on by her pretty young mother. Life was, as it should be for a carefree budding blonde. But life, as we all know, can be hard. When she was almost a year old, Sally’s mom died. Her father was rightfully devastated, and later married again. This time he chose a woman of status with a spotless social pedigree and stone where her heart should have been. Eleven years later, Sally’s father passed away and she was formally adopted by the ice queen who promptly sent her away to school in another state. As a junior in high school, returning to her home for Christmas break, the ice queen decided she’d had quite enough of Sally and refused to let her in the house. On that snow capped porch step, as a freezing North wind bit at her rosy cheeks, Sally became an adult. A resolute soul, she gathered herself, found respite at a friends house and went on to graduate from her high school.
The military has a long and successful history of straightening out boys who love bending the rules. In the Air Force, Jim found some much needed discipline, regular meals and instruction in being a mechanic. An assignment which fit his mechanically inclined and artistically inspired soul perfectly. As typical enlisted airmen, Jim and a buddy headed north for leave intending to visit his cousin in Denver. As it turns out Jim’s cousin Jan, had a new roommate who was working hard trying to get a start in life. Her name was Sally.
After an inauspicious first meeting, Sally went about her life while Jim went back to base. Months passed with no communication between the two except for a single card from Jim. A simple fold-in-half model which boasted a fairly lame joke for its contents. Hardly Hallmark material and fans of your average romantic comedy would have given it two thumbs down. Sally chuckled but didn’t give it much thought afterward. She was busy trying to climb up out of the hole life had dug for her.
Springtime came and coincidentally, so did Jim’s next round of leave from base. Convincing his buddy that “he probably should go back and see his cousin,” the two headed back to Denver. During this visit Jim convinced Sally to accompany him on a date. It would be their only one! After dinner Jim took her dancing as it was an inconspicuous way to get “close” to her. In contrast to modern methods of grinding and humping with clothes on, theirs was actual dancing, with lots of eye contact, hand holding and complementary steps. At one point the song Blue Moon by Mel Torme’ played over the sound system. Sally said the lyrics fit the moment and their lives perfectly…
Blue Moon
You saw me standing alone
Without a dream in my heart
Without a love of my own
You knew just what I was there for
You heard me saying a prayer for
Someone I really could care for
And then there suddenly appeared before me
The only one my arms will hold
I heard somebody whisper please adore me
And when I looked to the Moon it turned to gold
Blue Moon
Now I'm no longer alone
Without a dream in my heart
Without a love of my own
And then there suddenly appeared before me
The only one my arms will ever hold
I heard somebody whisper please adore me
And when I looked the Moon had turned to gold
Blue moon . . .
Now I'm no longer alone
Without a dream in my heart
Without a love of my own
*Lyrics and Music Richard Rogers and Lorenz Hart.
And when the song had finished, Jim looked into Sally’s eyes and asked her to marry him. She paused, looked deeply through his eyes down into his soul, and quietly said “yes.” And that my friends is how a song becomes “ours” for a lifetime.
Phone calls would carry their conversation until the next scheduled leave from base. Once reconnected, they decided to elope via the local Justice of the Peace. The groom and his bride-to-be had to wait a few minutes after their scheduled appointment so the JP could finish watching his favorite TV show, Gunsmoke. After the ceremony, Jim and Sally moved back to the Air Force base married housing, established their new life together, and became faithful Gunsmoke watchers. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gunsmoke)
Like most couples, Jim and Sally had ups and downs on their journey of life. In a year their family grew by one as their daughter Kim, who’s pretty-bright eyes and persistent personality, kept them on their toes. Years passed and Sally brought another beautiful girl into the world, Staci. In about six months however, Doctors discovered a problem with Staci’s heart. A condition undetected at birth, and had it been, could have been rectified with surgery. Jim and Sally endured the greatest pain a couple can know, the loss of a child. Instead of heaping their grief on or at one-another, they pulled together and relied on their commitment to weather the storm. A rare approach to marriage by today’s standards.
More years passed and two more sons came into the family. Life was hectic as it is for most. Businesses were started, birthdays and school events came and went. Jim became mayor of their little town and Sally was helping run the businesses. A snowmobile accident almost took Jim’s life and Sally had to carry the load for the next year as he inched his way to recovery. Doctors told her divorce was common in these situations. Sally, however, had said a vow before God that included the phrase “for better or for worse,” and this was the worse. There was also a bout with alcoholism, and a diagnosis of Multiple Sclerosis with no medical solution. Enormous pressures that would crumble many marriages, but Jim and Sally clung together and prayed to God. Jim left the MS wheelchair and they defeated Alcoholism’s grip on their family.
Theirs was not a perfect marriage and their relationship not always harmonious. But in every instance, they chose each other, they reverenced their vows above the tumult of the moment. In the evenings, Jim always came home, and Sally was always there. Photographs tell our story through specific moments in time. Looking through their personal photo album you would see images from city functions, family gatherings, church events or political meetings. In every frame, the snapshots of life displayed a rough and tumble Jim, with a smiling Sally at his side.
In our current culture, most young people doubt that marriage can last or be successful. The love story of Jim and Sally is proof that it can, and proof that it can be good. After 58 years of love and life, lung cancer parted Jim from his bride Sally.
When she said her final good bye that night, Sally looked up and “the moon had turned to gold.”
