Anniversary of a Memorable Event

42 years ago today Jim proposed to me.

I wrote that in an e-mail I sent to the kids. Helena's response was
Awww! You should blog about it. :)

And Peter said: Wow! That's cool! I love having both of you as parents. Thank you, Dad and Mom! Love, Peter

And Barbie said: Awww. That just makes another consecutive special "odd" day in December. I think that Elizabeth will be born on the 29th. Love, Barb

(I think it’s interesting that Helena and Barbie spelled “Awww” the same way. It must be a genetic thing. Barbie had not seen Helena’s response.)

OK, so here's the rest of the story: Jim and I met in our dorm cafeteria at the University of Illinois in January 1965, the first day of classes that semester. The Illinois Street Residence Hall where we lived had a men’s tower and a women’s tower, which shared a common cafeteria. We both attended Wesley Methodist Church there on campus, and I recognized him from church. That day when he and his roommate came and joined my roommate and me and some other friends, for dinner, I remember thinking that his roommate, Steve, was kinda cute.

Fast-forward almost a year. On December 19, Jim and I went to the Sunday Night Supper club at Wesley. (The dorms didn’t serve meals on Sunday nights.) Afterwards Jim said he wanted to show me something so we walked down to the chapel. I don’t remember if I had ever seen it at night before. It was a lovely place with a special ambiance in the evening. There was a soft glow from the lights that illuminated the stained glass at the front of the church. It still catches my breath to think of it.

He led me to the second pew from the front on the left-hand side of the aisle. We sat and soaked in the ambiance for awhile, and then he turned to me (we already were holding hands) and took hold of my other hand and said, “Katherine, my love, will you marry me?” I don’t for the life of me remember what I said! Jim said I most likely just got teary-eyed and nodded my head, and he’s probably right.

If I had it to do over, I would copy a friend of ours and exclaim “Oh that would be fun!” (Her poor husband-to-be didn’t know for awhile if she had said yes or not!)

I must have said "yes" because on 25 June 1966 we were married. :-)