{"id":1042,"date":"2020-08-19T17:24:59","date_gmt":"2020-08-19T22:24:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/loosestringsfromthepast.com\/?p=1042"},"modified":"2020-08-19T17:24:59","modified_gmt":"2020-08-19T22:24:59","slug":"sixty-five-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/loosestringsfromthepast.com\/?p=1042","title":{"rendered":"SIXTY- FIVE YEARS"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ken graduated from NTSC on May 26, 1955.\u00a0 Two days later, May 28, 1955, we were married.<\/p>\n

We are asking ourselves, \u201cHow did time pass so quickly?\u201d\u00a0 My Dad told me, \u201cThe older you get, the quicker the years go by.\u201d\u00a0 I believe that is true!<\/p>\n

We were in love when we married.\u00a0 Through the years, our love has grown each year.\u00a0 It can truly be called never-ending love.<\/p>\n

Our first home was a tiny garage apartment chosen because it was two blocks from Hardin Simmons University, and I could walk to classes.\u00a0 Ken had a military college deferment which expired upon graduation.\u00a0 He knew he was going into the Army in the fall when I would return to NTSC (North Texas State College) to finish my Bachelor\u2019s Degree.<\/p>\n

Ken went to Fort Chafee, Arkansas, for basic training.\u00a0 He was then stationed at Fort Gordon in Augusta, Georgia.<\/p>\n

I finished my college work and graduated on August 23, 1956.\u00a0 We bought a 1956 Chevrolet and took off for Augusta.\u00a0 We arrived on a Sunday afternoon.\u00a0 By Monday afternoon, I had a job teaching in North Augusta, South Carolina.\u00a0 There was an extreme teacher shortage. I was lucky.\u00a0 Military wives were not employed by local businesses because they were temporary residents.<\/p>\n

We had a spacious garage apartment in a beautifully landscaped back yard.\u00a0 It was different from dry west Texas. We could sit on our tiny porch and enjoy the flowers.<\/p>\n

I taught eighth grade English.\u00a0 How did someone with a degree in home economics end up teaching English?\u00a0 I had a minor in English and the administration obtained an emergency certificate for me. We bought a used black and white TV for $50.\u00a0 Our little apartment was the site of pot luck suppers most weekends as we hosted members of Ken\u2019s unit.\u00a0 We ate and watched the little TV.<\/p>\n

The next fall found us both teaching in Fort Worth. We were thrilled that we were assigned to the same school.\u00a0 On the first day of in-service, we learned that it was a mistake, but the administration thought it was too late to change our assignments. We were the first married couple to teach in the same school in the Fort Worth ISD.<\/p>\n

Our oldest son, Kevin, was born in 1958, at Harris Hospital.\u00a0 I stayed home and became a full-time Mom.\u00a0 One teaching salary was stretched thin. Ken took an evening job at a service station from 5 to 9 PM.<\/p>\n

Working two jobs did not seem to be a long term solution.\u00a0 Ken bought a bulldozer in Abilene, and worked on weekends until school was out.\u00a0 We moved to Abilene in 1959, and he began doing soil conservation work with the dozer.\u00a0 We built a house and settled in.\u00a0 Our son, Charles, and daughter, Cynthia, were born in Abilene.\u00a0 Abilene was not a good place for Kevin\u2019s and my asthma and allergies.\u00a0 We moved to Tucson.\u00a0 Ken taught at the University of Arizona and got his Masters Degree in Vocational Evaluation Rehabilitation.\u00a0 We all felt better and still love the desert.<\/p>\n

We went from one extreme to another.\u00a0 Ken accepted a job with Texas Rehabilitation Commission to set up a vocational evaluation center in Harlingen, Texas. We moved to the Rio Grande Valley in 1969. We rented a large house with citrus groves all around.\u00a0 I taught in a small school which the boys attended.\u00a0 Cynthia went to private daycare in Harlingen.<\/p>\n

In 1972, TRC, transferred Ken to their central office in Austin.\u00a0 We bought a house in a new subdivision in Georgetown.\u00a0 The children grew up in that house.\u00a0 I was teaching at Georgetown High School when all three of the children graduated.<\/p>\n

In 1987, we went back to the Rio Grande Valley for Ken to start an evaluation program at Pan American University.\u00a0 (Now, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley)\u00a0 I began teaching with the La Feria ISD.\u00a0 We kept looking at an old house in La Feria for sale. The realtor insisted it could not be rented.\u00a0 The owner had started Interstate Fruit and Vegetable.\u00a0 He was the first to ship valley produce to Europe after WW11. The house had been vacant since the man\u2019s death. \u00a0Ken finally talked directly to his son in Dallas and told him that we would clean up the grounds and keep up maintenance on the house. \u00a0He rented it to us. We enjoyed the old house.\u00a0 It was surrounded by citrus trees, palm trees, and flower beds. We had a yardman who lived behind the garage.<\/p>\n

The house had a flat roof.\u00a0 One night we were awakened by a loud noise over the master bedroom. It was like heavy footsteps.\u00a0 They faded as they went to the front of the house.\u00a0 The yard man heard them too.\u00a0 He was searching the yard when Ken got outside.\u00a0 He was halfway up a palm tree looking on the roof.\u00a0 The yard was well lit by guard lights.\u00a0 They were no footprints, human or animal, in the yard.\u00a0 It happened again in a few months. There was nothing to indicate what it was.\u00a0 As it kept happening, we began to call it Mr. Aiken\u2019s ghost. \u00a0We just said, \u201cThere he is again,\u201d and went back to sleep.<\/p>\n

We eventually bought property west of Harlingen and built a house.\u00a0 Ken sodded coastal Bermuda grass and began raising registered Brangus cattle. In 1999, we began looking upstate for retirement property.\u00a0 Our retirement property west of Georgetown was now surrounded by Sun City, and Georgetown had become north Austin.\u00a0 We finally bought property north of Stephenville.\u00a0 It is close to our families and Fort Worth.\u00a0 We made a few expansions and changes and copied the Valley house.\u00a0 We moved into it in December 2000, and have lived here ever since.<\/p>\n

Our three children are nearby.\u00a0 We have five granddaughters, a grandson by choice, and eight great-grandchildren.<\/p>\n

We are on a private road and are blessed with wonderful neighbors.<\/p>\n

\"Abilene
\u00a0\u00a0<\/a> Abilene house in 1918. House was white with chain link fence in the 1960s<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Tuscon, AZ<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Stephenville house<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ken graduated from NTSC on May 26, 1955.  Two days later, May 28, 1955, we were married. We are asking ourselves, “How did time pass so quickly?”  My Dad told me, “The older you get, the quicker the years go by.”  I believe that is true! We were in love when we married.  Through the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[308],"class_list":["post-1042","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-other-things","tag-towns-and-houses"],"yoast_head":"\nSIXTY- FIVE YEARS - Loose Strings From The Past<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/loosestringsfromthepast.com\/?p=1042\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"SIXTY- FIVE YEARS - Loose Strings From The Past\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Ken graduated from NTSC on May 26, 1955.  Two days later, May 28, 1955, we were married. 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