On Nov. 6, 1959 Nelda M. Laurent (pure Cajun) and I were married in Lawton, Comanche Co., OK. At the time, I was a proud member of the U.S. Army, stationed at Fort Sill. Through my sister, Nelda and I had met just about three months earlier in our hometown of Baton Rouge, LA..

We had a few dates prior to my enlistment, and continued to write to each other while I underwent Basic Training at Fort Jackson, SC. We dated several times during my visit back home after Basic, and while at Fort Sill I proposed to her in a letter.

She responded by hopping a Greyhound to see me, just before I was scheduled to go overseas. She agreed to marry me then and there.

As fate would have it, I did not go overseas until late in 1960. After I was settled in Verdun, France, Nelda came to me, but instead of hopping a Greyhound, she hopped an Air France flight to Paris where she informed me that she was pregnant with our first child.

Three years in France and two more in New Mexico found us with two children. After a couple of more stateside assignments we were off to Germany for a couple of years. We left the military in 1968 and a couple of years later we had our third and final child.

This photo and card arrived yesterday from Bill, Jr. and Teresa Chapman, and Bill, Sr. of Keizer, OR. Bill, Jr. is our oldest friend from our Army days. It was taken at Silver Falls State Park, south of Portland, near Aumsville, OR. The park is said to be the largest state park in OR, and we toured it during a visit to the state in 2006.

Day after tomorrow Nelda and I will have been married 49 years. We have three children and seven grandchildren ranging in age from 3 yrs to 22 yrs.

Now you know more about me than you ever wanted to know!