October 12, 1957 A Special Day For Me

On Saturday night October 12, 1957, I was 23 years old, pretty, intelligent, articulate, kind, caring, good to my parents and doing well as assistant to the CEO of a large printing company.

I had a blind date about 8 PM to a young man, 4 years older than me. It was Columbus Day and I do not think it was a legal holiday then. We met for the first time that moment and I was quite relieved, because when he called me that evening, he said something to me very troubling. He said " I want to tell you something about me I am bald, I have false teeth and I wear thick glasses. Does that bother you.?" I was horrified, but because I am and was kind, I said OK. I did not want to hurt his feelings. I said to Mom " you urged me to out on this blind date, when I did not want to. I will not listen to you about blind dates."

When he arrived, I walked down the hall stairs, we lived on the second floor and I prayed to God, to give me strength to go through a few hours with this happening.

I opened the door, there stood this handsome fellow, no glasses, no false teeth and he was not bald. He had been kidding me and I was so relieved, I did not call him down. He is now and was a jokester.

Our first date was very lovely, we went to what was called then a supper club. They had good food, a small dance floor and an unknown comedian. It was called Gabriels Supper Club and his name was Jackie Vernon. Then Jerry asked me out for the next night, which was a Sunday called Mardi Gras Supper Club, same setup and they had a fine vocalist Jerry Vale and he went on to be a successful entertainer. He has passed on and I recently bought 6 of his songs on CD and he is my favorite show business personality. I associate him with my second date.

So date after date and I had his school ring which was meaning we are dating exclusively. Two years later, I got engaged and then married 7 months later.

So the moral of this story, always listen to your mother and good things can happen. My favorite poem is How Do I Love Thee, Let Me Count The Ways?

I count the ways and he does too. So Christopher, you discovered America and I am happy you did.