50th ANNIVERSARY TRIBUTE
We knew one another from
camp but we’d never had much more than a casual conversation.
The Pittsburgh Conference
used to have a ‘Senior Banquet’.
Deb was a senior. She had a friend – Ann Smith – suggest that I
ask her to go.
I did, but have always
maintained that she asked me out on our first date!
Actually, I felt
fortunate! She was pretty, fun,
athletic, had great legs, and was popular!
We continued to date –
off-and-on – for the next five years.
I first told her that I
loved her in the front seat of my ’63 Chevy while sitting at an intersection
very near Enon Valley [where she lived].
She’d grown up on a farm.
She’d bailed hay and
worked with her dad when she was young.
She’d helped her mom raise
her younger siblings – all eight of them!
She could run like the
wind!
In 1969, we both wound up
at Roberts Wesleyan College; we had not been together for a few months.
Gradually, we got together
again. [Her biggest adjustment in going
to college was learning to drink regular milk instead of raw milk!]
We were both largely
paying our own way at college – it was expensive.
After getting two years
in, she went back to the farm and began working at Kaufman’s in hopes of paying
off her school debt.
We entered into a period
of a long-distance relationship.
I hitchhiked that 250
miles MANY TIMES over the next two years!
I spent my summers working
for a roofing crew in Philadelphia. I
made trips home for Family Camp and other special events [like our good
friends’ wedding – John and Joan Mitchell].
On September 3, 1971, I took Debbie to Conneaut Lake Park and proposed to her during our picnic lunch! Two years later, on August 11, we were married in the New Brighton Free Methodist Church in front of a packed house of family and friends. All of Debbie’s sisters stood up with her. My guys were my two nephews – Tom and Bob Liberty, and my two best friends – Bob Creese and Larry Householder! It was a joyous day – except for whoever smeared our windshield with Crisco and put Limburger chees on my engine.
We honeymooned in a chalet in Marian, PA – courtesy of Debbie’s Aunt Dorothy! Then, we spent several days at the Summit Inn near the Poconos.
Back to New Brighton to open all our wonderful gifts, pack a U-Haul truck and head for Wilmore, Kentucky – our home for the next three years while I attended seminary. On February 24, 1976, our Bicentennial Baby came to join our family – Travis Wilson Haire – weighing in at less than five pounds.
We returned to the Pittsburgh Conference and I began to lead the Jeannette FMC – we were there for two years. In 1978, we moved to McClellandtown, PA where we stayed another four years. Tray and Tracie were born during this appointment.
We were a family of three for exactly four-and-a-half years until Troy William Haire came to join our family. After waiting four-and-a-half years, we thought it would be a while, but within eleven months, Tracie Elizabeth Haire came along to make our family complete!
In 1982, we moved to East Liverpool where I led the Oakland Church for thirteen years. Travis started and finished school in East Liverpool. We owned a home overlooking the Ohio River for seven years.
You’re probably getting the picture that we moved a lot! Actually fifteen times!
1.
to a cement-block duplex at 301 East Morrison Street, Wilmore,
Kentucky - after our honeymoon!
2.
to our first real home: a 40' x 8' mobile home at 20
Chapelview, Wilmore, which we paid $1,800 for and sold for the same a
year-and-a-half later. Travis was born while we lived here.
3.
to another, nicer duplex at 104 Stephens Drive, Nicholasville,
Kentucky. On weekends we lived in a 70' mobile home behind the Tunnel Hill Free
Methodist Church in English, Indiana.
4.
to 112 Oak Lane, Harrison City, Pennsylvania. Here we
endured two horrendous winters in a mobile home in 1977 and 1978.
5.
to Blaine Avenue, McClellandtown, Pennsylvania. Troy and
Tracie were born while we lived here and Travis went to Kindergarden.
6.
to 315 Hill Boulevard, East Liverpool, Ohio. A very small parsonage that we grew out
of!
7.
to a home we purchased at 316 Thompson Avenue, East Liverpool,
Ohio. Debbie bought the house - I bought the view!
8.
to 285 Bradshaw Avenue, East Liverpool, Ohio. We were told
we were moving, so we sold our house! Had to rent this one and move.
A year later it was sold and we had to move again!
9.
to 500 West Fifth Street, East Liverpool, Ohio. We
nicknamed this place 'Maniac Mansion'. It was HUGE! There was a
Bruno's pizza shop on the corner that sold big slices for $.50 - we ate a lot
of pizza while there with three teenagers! Travis left for college from
here (He hated his semester there! He called me one day and said,
"Dad, they're stricter here than you were!").
10.
to 2100 Spencerville Road, Spencerville, Maryland. Travis
was at the United States Naval Academy while we lived here (25 miles away).
11.
to? We lived in several places for a few months:
the farm in Enon Valley, an apartment in Chester, West Virginia (courtesy
of our friend, Heidi Dietz), and a house in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. This
was a transition during a time of family crisis; we ended up running a licensed
home for severely behaviorally challenged children in Summit County for six
years!
12.
to 962 Kickapoo Avenue (my favorite address - very poetic) where
we worked for the Shelter Care Agency. I also joined the staff at the
Cornerstone FMC. Troy and Tracie both left the nest while we lived here.
13.
to 4350 E Calla Road, New Middletown, Ohio.
14.
to room 1237, Hua Yuan Hotel, Weixing Liu, Changchun, Jilin
Province, PRC.
15.
to 273 Gilmore Road, Enon Valley, Pennsylvania (after a
disastrous one-month in a duplex in New Castle, Pennsylvania).
16.
to 190 Rusty Trail, Enon Valley, Pennsylvania - hopefully our
last stop before Heaven!
I was describing my girlfriend to one of my college professors many years earlier. Prof Magill finally figured out who she was and he expressed himself emphatically: “Oh! That happy-faced girl!” “Yep!” I answered, “that’s the one!” It captures her spirit! She’s still my ‘happy-faced girl’! And I intend to hold on to her until we go to meet Jesus!
Make no mistake when you look at her! She’s tough! She’s resilient! She’s a servant! She’s overtly generous! She loves her family! She overcame deficits! Remarkably, she loves me! I’m a very blessed man because of her!
She’s endured my highs and survived my lows! She’s stayed with me when I’ve been overwhelmed with
- pastoring growing churches,
- pursuing two master’s degrees,
- up-all-night typing papers,
- manifold trips to Pittsburgh for seminary classes,
- visits to the hospital for emergency calls,
- [many] trips home for funerals during vacations,
- resolving conflicts in the churches,
- the struggles and stresses of raising three kids,
- financial distress and pressures,
- driving lots of old cars, and
- periodic battles with depression!
I hope you’re getting the picture! I’m a very fortunate man! In one word: BLESSED!
Such a wonderful tribute to a wonderful lady. Happy 50th anniversary to both of you!
ReplyDeleteHi. Thanks! It'd be nice to know who you are! :-)
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