Sunday, August 1st, will be my parents - Pat and Iris Smith - 62nd wedding anniversary. They were married August 1, 1948 when mom was 17 and dad 20. Mom had already completed one year of college, dad had graduated fromo Ole Miss and owned a Studebaker dealership in a small town in Mississippi called Mendenhall. In 1950, dad wrote his very first book “The River is Home” and was named Man of the Year in Mississippi for that book.
Although this last year, especially since the day before Thanksgiving, has been very rough on them and dad has not really walked since that day but is trying hard to walk again, they have loved each other thru thick and thin and that is the truth. Dad spent 3 years in and out of VA hospitals from falling off a ladder on a pressbox at a local high school football game breaking his arm in 17 places. The doctor’s wanted to remove it but his mother would not let them and it took 3 years of surgery to put pins and bones from other parts of his body in it so he could somewhat use it.
Needless to say, it did not stop dad from his beloved writing and the man is hell on wheels with a typewriter (IBM) and swears he will never use a computer.
So here is to my parents for 62 years of loving each other, not killing each other at times, and for being the best parents in the world any daughter could ask for. They are truly blessed to still say they love and look forward to seeing each other’s face in the morning.
I love you both, HAPPY 62ND ANIIVERSARY.
Jane