How I Met My Husband

My granddaughter Laura suggested I write about how I met my husband, her grandfather.

After high school I worked for 2 years, then decided to go to college. An x-boyfriend was also starting college (after having been in the navy). Since we were both new to the experience & didn't yet have new college friends, we kind of hung together at first. He met a young man (who had spent 3 years in the army) & asked me to arrange a date for him. I introduced him to a girl I met (who lived next to me in the dorm). We double dated with them a few times. One date was a casual dance. I was sitting out a dance when the new friend joined me for a chat. His opinion was that I could do better than the date I was with.

To make a long story short, the new friend asked me for a date which I accepted. Our second date was the "Dame's ball", where the girl asked the boy to the dance. He accepted, bought a tuxedo (which was required at that time) & I made him a 'corsage' (also required). However the corsages were never made of flowers, but constructed out of anything but flowers. (No, I don't remember what I made).

We started dating exclusively after that & by the end of the semester (in January), he went home & when he came back he had an engagement ring for me.
We wanted to be married at the end of the school year, & since he was going to summer school we didn't have much time (& I didn't have the money) for a big wedding. We both had finals on Saturday & Monday, so we arranged to get married on Tuesday, since he was starting summer school on the following Monday. I wore a street length white lace strapless dress with a long sleeved lace fitted jacket & he wore a business suit. We had one bridesmaid (a childhood girlfriend) and the best man (his brother). Since the wedding was on a Tuesday afternoon, not very many people attended, mostly family. We went to Spring Mill state park for a short honeymoon & then back to school.


All his life he wanted to be a doctor, so he was in pre-med when we met. (While in the army he was a med tech & worked mostly in the med lab.) Our first year together I arranged a dental appointment for him. He became interested in the equipment & procedures & decided maybe that was what he wanted to do. (He had taken all the classes required, straight thru, without any breaks, so he was eligible to apply after only 2 years). However, the deadline to apply to dental school was the next day, & he needed a passport type photo of himself. We were fortunate in that he found a photographer who was willing to take the picture & process it immediately so he could take it to the Med center in Indy the next day & put in his application. He was accepted, and the rest is history.


The young man I was dating (when I met your grandfather) and the girl next door (who dated your grandfather) ended up marrying each other. However their marriage didn't last very long, which is a story in itself. ( I was the lucky one, and yes, I did do better).