Mom & Dad

Yesterday would have been my parents' 68th wedding anniversary - they were married in a double wedding ceremony in Pocomoke City, Maryland  by the Reverend John Ditto.  The other couple married were Mom's sister, Ruth, and Earle Gordon; they divorced after 9 years.  It seems funny that an Oklahoma/Kansas farm boy and the daughter of a waterman of Chincoteague would meet and marry.  Dad joined the US Navy in 1939 to become a bomber pilot.  Poor man - he washed out of the program because he had no depth perception.  So he was sent to the Ford Company and became an expert on airplane engines, and went to sea on an aircraft carrier.
  Mom was born and raised on Chincoteague Island.  Her father was a dual citizen of Sweden and the United States. But her maternal line goes back to the first land patents on the island, and the Whealton family.  Having been on, or around, the island for more than 300 years, she was related to almost every "old timer" family there in Accomac County, and along the Eastern Shore of Virginia and Maryland.  Pop-pop's Swedish relatives lived in New York City, and were a backbone of the Fulton Fish Market.  Mom-mom was a true Chincoteaguer, and had the Whealtons' fiery temper.
  Mom and Dad met at NAS Chincoteague, over on the mainland.  Mom was working as a cashier in the base's Ship's Store, and, of course, Dad was a customer, posted to the base.  At that time, he was being endoctrinated in radar systems, having just returned from a stint in the Caribbean.  Mom thought he was a dashing Puerto Rican, with his deep tan, black hair and moustache, light green eyes, and the way he could speak a few Spanish phrases.  Dad thought Mom was extremely straight-forward, to the point, and had a great sense of humor.
  After a little over a year of wooing, Dad proposed and Mom accepted - after he had to confess one thing.  Mom had told him during their second date that she would never marry a man who was younger than she was.  Dad found out how old she was, and added two years on top of that when she asked his age.  Proposal day had him confess that he was actually two years younger than Mom - she laughed, and then accepted his proposal.  Their honeymoon was in Baltimore, Maryland.
   Mom's sister, meanwhile, had accepted the proposal of her boyfriend, Earle Gordon; and so the double wedding in Pocomoke City took place.  They were married in 1948; Dad died in 1980; and Mom never remarried. She passed away in 2001.
      This photo was taken by my Aunt Ruth, about a months before the weddings - her fiance, Earle Gordon, is toward the front of the photo.  Mom and Dad are in the back, Dad at the tiller, and Mom is wearing her favorite jacket, made of fringed buckskin.  She always loved ponies, horses, and the West.

Santa Anita Handicap, the Navy, Old Neighbors

This Saturday, 8 May, the Santa Anita Handicap will be run for the 77th time.  The race is 1 and a quarter miles on the dirt track; this year the purse is worth $750,000; and Fox will show the race live.  This year, there are 8 entries for the race - and the "top three" are incredible horses.  Game On Dude, the winner of the Big 'Cap in 2011 and 2013, will face the first and second-place finishers of the 2013 Breeders Cup Classic (also 1 and 1/4 miles on the dirt) - Mucho Macho Man and Will Take Charge.  This year's Handicap should be as memorable as the ones in which Seabiscuit competed. ...  Also, rain and high winds cancelled today's "Under Tack Showing" at the Ocala Breeders' Sales; the showing has been rescheduled for tomorrow.
   We had a good time discussing family history at my nephew Mike's condominium after our dinner Tuesday night.  Kathy told the story about how Dad played cards with his friends from the Philippines and Puerto Rico and some of the African-American enlisted men each Friday night.  Dad's CO called him in, and offered him an advancement in becoming an officer - but it would mean that Dad could no longer play cards with his friends, also enlisted men, on Fridays.  Dad declined, and stayed an enlisted man.  He knew very well that the boost in pay, as an officer, could be used at home; he came home that evening, and told Mom that he had turned down the appointment, and why.  Mom cried.  But then she wiped her eyes, and told Dad, "Honey, I'm very happy you stood by your friends.  Friends are better than  money any day."  Mike asked why Dad had decline the promotion, if the pay was so much better.  Kathy told him that "the Officer's Club was lily white."  Poor Mike; we had to explain that if Dad joined the OC, he couldn't speak to anyone of color, unless it was to relay an order.  -  And, I'm very happy that we live in a time when we had to explain that.
  I received sad news yesterday.  We moved to Gainesville, Florida in 1961, and bought the house on 50th Street.  Our next door neighbors were a couple from North Carolina, who had a single daughter, a few years older than Kathy.  Their names were Avaree and Hubert Spurlin; and they were my neighbors for 23 years - until Dad died and Mom sold the house.  A few houses up the street lived the Clevengers - Bud and Molly, and their daughters, Linda (Kathy's age) and Elaine (my age.) Avaree passed away in 1999, as did Bud Clevenger.  Molly and Hubert became good friends, best buddies, and, finally, a couple.  Molly passed away last year.  Hubert passed away yesterday, at the age of 92.  Elaine, my school friend, passed the information along on Facebook.  It certainly brought back many memories.