60 Years With The Right Woman!

I remember the Wallace town wags who occasionally came into Dad's store singing "20 years with the wrong woman," and I would wonder what qualities the right woman was supposed to have! Well, in God's grace He sent me that right woman shortly after discharge from the Navy, but it was another 3 years before we would be married. This December 18 we celebrated 60 years together and we can only praise the Lord for His goodness and faithfulness to us. We had greetings from loved ones and friends from all over, but our dear Yeddo Baptist Church family honored us on December 20 with a beautiful placque and delicious Anniversary cake during their Christmas Dinner. Then the cake top layer became a treat at our Thursday Bible Class here on Christmas Eve afternoon! It was a treat for us on Christmas Day to enjoy dinner with sister Joan and husband Russell Gooding and their oldest daughter Susan Hesler with husband Sherrill and son Tim. Joan and our younger sister Jean had befriended "Mamaw" Mary K. in school at Wallace and this later set the stage for my courtship with "Mamaw"! I could write a volume on the "right" things about my spouse, but the outstanding attributes are her love for the Lord Jesus Christ and His Word, and her love for me. Proverbs 18:22 puts it this way: "Whoso findeth a wife findeth a good thing, and obtaineth favour of the LORD." A pastor-friend of mine noted a few years ago that this verse really means "whoso stumbleth over a wife..." and that was it! Well, later after pondering this a good bit, it struck me that a guy really has to be moving in order to stumble! When teen "Mamaw" agreed on the phone for our first date (a Sunday p.m. church revival service) I got moving! Dad's great old 1937 Pontiac set a new speed record west out of Wallace making a cloud of dust down the road to Whitfield Jackson's farm that could be seen for miles. As her Mom used to say, "WHOOPEE-DOODLES!"