MY VALENTINE

Ken proposed to me on Valentine’s Day in 1954.  We went to dinner at a steakhouse in Ponder.  He proposed later that evening.

We were both students at North Texas State College.  (Now University of North Texas)  Ken worked in the college library.  He worked 100 hours a month for 30 cents an hour.  This paid room and board for an apartment shared with three roommates.  The brother of one roommate owned a jewelry store in Kilgore.  The two of them went to Kilgore where Ken bought my engagement ring.  He earned money to buy the ring during winter break of 1953 working as a night watchman on a drilling rig in Big Spring.

In the spring of 1955, Ken got a job as a roughneck on a drilling rig west of Denton.  He worked the 11 PM to 7 AM shift.  This provided money to return to Kilgore and buy my wedding ring.

Ken graduated from North Texas State on May 26, 1955. We were married two days later on May 28.

We moved into a garage apartment in Abilene.  It was two blocks west of Hardin Simmons University where I enrolled.  I walked to classes.

Ken worked for TP Coal and Oil. He had a job with Dallas Independent School District beginning in September.  The US Army had other plans for him.  His college deferment was no longer valid, and he received a draft call.  He resigned his job in Dallas and went into the Army on Sept. 4, 1955.  I returned to Denton to complete my studies.

Three children, five granddaughters, and eight great-grandchildren later, we will celebrate our 63^rd anniversary in May.

We are blessed.  God is good.