In a hot, un-airconditioned, lovely brick building, sixty-six years ago today, Furrs Baptist Church in Pontotoc County, Mississippi was filled to capacity for a special event. The church pianist was marrying the pastor’s oldest daughter. He had just turned twenty, and she was 18 ½ with her associate’s degree from Itawamba Junior College attained the previous week. In their highest expectation, he would continue running his deceased father’s country store and farming pursuits while she eventually finished her degree at Ole Miss. They planned to live out their lives on the edge of rural Pontotoc County.
The first three years went according to that plan. Then the Berlin Wall went up. The young man’s distant cousin stopped in the store one afternoon, fresh from a meeting of the draft board. It seems the military needed additional personnel with the new threat, and Allen’s name had been drawn. Cousin Ernest said, “We could not honestly stuff the name back and draw another, but we could put an order on the names that were drawn. We have scheduled your call up date to fall after Virginia Ann finishes at Ole Miss.” On his birthday the following May, Allen received a letter from Uncle Sam that began, “Greetings.” The greetings had nothing to do with the birthday. Life was about to take an unexpected turn.
In this case, it turned out that the Army put a square peg in a square hole. Both the Army and Allen share the belief that organization is the solution to almost every problem known to man. He would spend almost twenty-five years organizing something in either Army chapels or some Headquarters and Headquarters Company. Virginia would add more education and teach GED classes to soldiers without a high school diploma, kindergarten, second grade, and junior high.
Expectations were replaced by reality:
· Apartments and Houses – There were 17 in all in New Jersey, New York, France, Belgium, Kentucky, Mississippi, Texas, Germany, and Louisiana and, for Allen, two barracks in Korea and Vietnam
· Life, as it does for everyone, brought both good and hard times, but joy far outdistanced sorrow and laughter came more often than tears.
· Retirement brought travel and a finished bucket list of seeing all fifty states and several missed countries.
· Virginia took on a new love, aided and abetted by Allen, and began writing for publication.
· Allen became known for his cake baking with the only question whether the carrot cake or pound cake deserved the top place on his extensive list.
The best part of the reality:
· Three children (two sons, one daughter) grew to be responsible adults and added their spouses.
· Ten grandchildren (six grandsons, four granddaughters) are still in various stages of becoming and adulting.
Sixty-six years later – That couple lives on the rural edge of Lamar County, Mississippi with a vast yard for him to mow and a she-shed where she can scribble – all next door to the youngest two grandsons who may pop in from time to time. The couple maintains a love for Pontotoc County, but their reality has exceeded all expectations.