"Sitting in the bleachers of their high school gym in New Jersey, our dad first spotted our mom, practicing a modern dance routine in a little black leotard on the gym floor. She was 15 at the time; he was 17. He turned to his best friend, sitting next to him, and said, Im going to marry that girl, pointing to our mom. Despite his friends laughter at the time, and the challenges they would face when our dad joined the Navy after high school and our mom went off to college, they married 7 years later; our dads best friend stood up as the Best Man.
A 32-year Navy career kept them busy moving around the country and involved many long stretches of time apart, while our dad was overseas, all with 4 children in tow. They shared a love of tennis and traveling and were lucky enough to combine the 2 when they won a trip to Paris for the French Open! Impressively, after retiring, they took many bike tours in Europe, into their 70s. Today, along with their 4 children, there are 7 grandchildren and 4 great-grandchildren. Unfortunately, our dad passed away at the age of 90, in 2018, after 65 years of marriage. Our dad adored our mom and even in his last months he often told family members how lucky he was that she chose him over all those Penn State College boys! Of course, when we mentioned that to our mom, she said, Oh gosh, there was NO comparison!"
"On an August evening in 1948, two sisters attended a dance, as they did every Saturday night. Ruth, the younger sister, had met an interesting young man earlier at an apple orchard and she was excited at the thought of seeing him again. Nancy just wanted to go to the dance. She loved to dance and would spend as much time as possible on the dance floor. On the other side of town, Henry was excited to talk to Ruth again. He talked his best friend into tagging along and they headed to the local school where the dance would be held; however, they had no intention of dancing. Instead, their plan was to go to the movies since neither of them liked to dance. When they arrived, Eugene (the best friend) and Nancy (the older sister) met for the first time.
Nancy had just graduated from high school, and Eugene was going into his senior year. It wasnt long before they knew that they would spend the rest of their lives together. After dating for almost three years, they married on March 24, 1951, in a small church near Eugenes home. Initially, they lived with his parents in Lynchburg, but as Eugene and Nancy were finishing college at Lynchburg, he was drafted into the U.S. Army which took them to Camp Gordon in Augusta, Georgia. When Eugene was discharged from the Army, they moved back to Virginia, and he started his teaching career at Bedford. Over the next 30 years, Eugene continued his teaching career and was promoted to Assistant Principal, Principal, and Assistant Superintendent in Pittsylvania County. They were blessed with three children, seven grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren, in addition to having more friends than they could count!"
