The Haire house was full! Ira and Joyce were home with Sandee (10) and Lee (9). Bev and Dick were home with Scott (9) and Heather (4 months). Several of us slept in the basement! Jeannette and Lib were living in Beaver Falls: Tommy was 17; Bobby was 14.
I had met Debbie at Tri-State Family Camp when we were young and her family began attending - I think she was about fourteen. I thought she had great legs! Wow! And that beautiful, thick, long, brown hair! I'm so glad she asked me to go to her senior banquet with her back in 1968. We dated off and on for the next five years.
But this was the big day! August 11, 1973! Her sisters were her bridesmaids. The New Brighton Free Methodist Church was packed like it was Easter Sunday. It was hot. David Eakin (Deb's pastor) was the preacher. Everything went off without a hitch - except he forgot to officially pronounce us married. A couple of my aunts got on him about it, so he came to our reception table while we were eating, laid his hands on us and officially pronounced us married there!
After the reception began to die down, we got in our Buick and headed for our honeymoon - a mountain chalet (Marienville, PA) offered to us by Deb's Aunt Dorothy. Unfortunately, some "friends" had plastered our windows with grease and our engine with limburger cheese, so I had to head to a car wash before leaving town.
We went to Conneaut Lake Park to start our honeymoon where we rode the rides and swam in the lake. The next day, we crossed the state to 'The Summit', a honeymoon resort complete with a heart-shaped tub! Our simple honeymoon was flawless - until Deb got an infection. We did win a trophy while there for being "The Best in the Sack!" [we won the 'sack races'].
Then, it was home to pack our U-Haul truck, open our many wonderful gifts, and then head for Wilmore, Kentucky where I was soon to start seminary studies. We'd made an advance trip, and Deb had been hired to start work in September at the First Security National Bank.
Our first home was at 301 East Morrison Street and it was a cement-block duplex. Even though we arrived late in the evening, neighbors appeared and quickly unloaded our truck, made our bed and then disappeared into the darkness!
The first Sunday, we walked to the Wilmore Free Methodist Church after Deb put a roast in the oven. While walking home, we smelled it and I said, "Is that smell coming from my house?" [a phrase that's been repeated many times over the past forty-seven years].
Little did we know how many addresses we were going to have in the future:
- 104 Stephens Drive, Nicholasville, KY
- 20 Chapleview, Wilmore, KY
- 112 Oak Lane, Jeannette, PA
- Blaine Avenue, McClellandtown, PA
- 315 Hill Boulevard, East Liverpool, OH
- 316 Thompson Avenue, East Liverpool, OH
- 285 Bradshaw Avenue, East Liverpool, OH
- 500 W. Fifth Street, East Liverpool, OH
- 2100 Spencerville Road, Spencerville, MD
- 962 Kickapoo Avenue, Akron, OH
- 4350 E Calla Road, New Middletown, OH
- 1237, Hua Yuan Hotel, Weixing Liu, Changchun, Jilin Province, PRC
- 273 Gilmore Road, Enon Valley, PA
- 190 Rusty Trail, Enon Valley, PA
- [I left out a few that were short term...😂🤣]
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