Part 1…Young Love

I entered high school in 1960, the beginning of a decade of change and unrest: civil rights, the Cold War, the Cuban missile crisis, and the growing conflict in Vietnam. By the time I was completing my high school career, the military draft and Vietnam were hot topics. The pictures on the news made the war very real as we were facing graduation and future decisions.

As the guys turned 18 and registered for the draft, they knew going to war was a possibility. Parents were worried about their sons. The options were debated: go to college, head to Canada, serve time in jail like Muhammad Ali, volunteerly join a branch of the service and try to get a job that would not cause you to be sent to Vietnam or simply hope that your number would not come up.

I felt this anxiety personally, I wanted to marry my boyfriend, Boyd.

Boyd was laid back, so I probably worried more about his getting drafted than he did. But there was an undeniable cloud on the horizon: the draft and Vietnam. We thought about his receiving the dreaded letter saying: “Order to report for Induction from the Selective Service draft board.”

By the time we completed our educations, he hadn’t been drafted. As we neared my completion of nursing school, we picked a wedding date. I graduated on Oct 1 and we married the next weekend on Oct. 9, 1965. We had been dating for three years. Finally we’d be together as man and wife.

Filled with the optimism of young love, we spent our energy on establishing our first home.