Our Whirlwind Courtship and Marriage
Ann writes, “On January 3, 1959 I attended a youth rally in Rosebud, Texas. My minister, Stanley Bratcher, introduced me to a young man who was preaching for the church in Rosebud. He had introduced us at a meeting about a year before this time, but Norman didn’t remember the meeting. He became interested in dating, and we started dating three weeks later.
Norman comments, “There’s a story here that’s too good to leave out. The next night after we met in Rosebud, some of our mutual friends came up with the idea of hosting a ‘42’ party. For those who were not privileged to grow up in Texas, 42 is the national table game in the eyes of most of the people. I liked playing 42, and I thought it was a good idea, but I had a date with another young lady. I said, ‘What if I bring her? They couldn’t say, ‘No’ even though the whole party was a scheme to get Ann and me together. They told me to come on anyway, and they quickly recruited Ann’s brother to even out the couples.
There were several tables, and winners moved up the chain, while the losers went backward. Somehow they made sure Ann and I got to be partners, but that really didn’t last all that long. My date figured out what was going on, and when she got me as a partner, she made sure we lost the rest of the evening. But the hook was set, and I wanted to know more about this young nurse. I’ll let Ann pick up with her version of the story at this point.
“We had a stormy courtship, while I tried to make up my mind about marrying a minister for sure. In June, we set the date for the next summer. In August Norman enrolled as a graduate student at Abilene Christian College where we planned to make our home.” On December 26, Ann Williams became Ann Bales.
The Way We Looked Back Then
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