On June 20, 1964 I kind of kicked off a series of events that have brought Judy and I to this point in our life together. This is our Fiftieth Wedding Anniversary. To celebrate this event I polished up an old song by Hank Snow called “With this Ring I Thee Wed.” It was just the song I needed at the time. I was somewhat nervous and timid, but if I could sing it in a song, I could get my message across. At the time I was working for the Northern Pacific Railroad. To pass the time, I spent many hours hiking and playing my guitar. The main thing on my mind was this enchanting young lady, Judith Starr, who lived in Spokane, Washington.
In early June I bought a ring at Ponders Jewelry, and on June 20th I talked Judy into a boating outing on Loon Lake. This lake is one of the larger lakes in Stevens County, just north of Spokane. I rented one of the larger fishing boats and hung my dad’s Evenrude kicker on it. We put-putted around the lake for a while and about mid-day I pulled the boat into shallow water at the end of the lake and brought out my guitar. I sang several songs and started working m courage up. Finally I was ready: I started to sing and play…
”With this ring I thee wed, an angel here beside me,
A moment more and Heaven will be mine,
With this ring I thee wed, as every dream inside me,
Comes true each time I hear the church bells chime.
At this point I put aside the guitar and brought out the ring in its box. I continued acapella…
“This little band of gold I hold will soon be on your finger,
A kiss, a vow, that moment so Devine.
With this ring I the wed, and now you’re mine forever,
To have and hold until the end of time.”
But why just read the words? I have worked the song up again and Judy and I performed it on stage at the Bullhead City Bluegrass Festival. If you will go to this “Youtube” link you can watch and listen to a fifty year look back.
http://youtu.be/JJvI5kyGzBY
With This Ring I Thee Wed” was written by Nelson, Edward Jr./nelson, Steve/Rollins, Jack. My performance is based on the Hank Snow version from 1960.
So what have we done for these last 50 years? Well for the first year we worked for the Northern Pacific Railway. First we lived in Ritzville, then Lind Washington and finally in Pullman. I was able to get back into school, and get a start toward completing my degree.
In June of 1966, with Judy and 4 month old Glen in tow, we moved our mobile home to Pasco and went to work for Boise Cascade. In 1970 I took leave from work and went back to school full time to finish up my Chemical Engineer’s degree. Judy managed our two children and earned what is commonly called a PhT degree. (Putting hubby through) Everything worked out perfectly. I received my degree in February of 1971 and Judy and I were still married. 1971 wasn’t very good to newly graduated Chemical Engineers, half of my class of 30 did not get job offers. I not only still had my job, I was promoted to an engineering position with a huge raise.
We moved to Warren Oregon to take a position at Boise Cascade’s St. Helens mill in January of 1971. I later picked up my Masters degree in 1988 through the Vancouver campus of Washington State University. About that same time Glen and Barb were married, and we hosted an AFS exchange student, Stefania Usai.
In 1990 I abandoned Boise Cascade for 18 months to have a career changing sabbatical with GK Carbonate and their successor ECCI. I have come to call it my PhD dissertation in Paper Making. It set up the rest of my career with Boise Cascade. During that time we moved to Tacoma and back to Scappoose.
I retired at the end of April of 2004 just about the time Renee and Neil got married. We sold the home on Bonneville Drive, bought a motor home and for these past 11 years we have cruised the back roads of our wonderful country from Alaska to California; Main to the Carolina’s and the Upper Peninsula of Wisconsin to Brownsville Texas. Oregon, however is still home.
Many of you have followed our adventures (and misadventures) as we crisscrossed our wonderful country and visited our neighbors to the north from British Columbia and Yukon Territory to Nova Scotia and Newfoundland.
Today we are celebrating with Judy’s sister, Sonya, and friends, Dave and Lynda Campbell, at a local restaurant. We will save the big celebration for June. We are planning a sailing trip with the family.
Are we ready to hang it up? No way! See you all down the road.
Gary and Judy