The following is the story of how I met my wife, Betty. A true "western romance".
I worked in downtown Dallas for the Katy Railroad and on the weekends, I always saddled up Thunder and took off for Kiest Park, about an eight mile ride. Across the road from the park was the Kiest Park Riding Academy, a place that rented out horses and also a place for riders like me who owned their own horses to meet and go on trail rides or just do some trick riding.
On this particular Saturday morning, I headed out for the park. I had to go through several pastures, as shortcuts, to get there. I spied a herd of cows and a lone rider trying to bunch them together. I rode up to him and asked if he needed a hand. He said "Sure, 'preciate it if you would help me get these critters to the barn."
So off we plodded behind the cows and drove them down the road a piece to what turned out to be a dairy farm. It was the middle of July and hot as hades. My new buddy invited me into the house for a glass of cold lemonade. When we finished, he said, "Lets ride to the park and see if we can scare up some girls." I said, "Sure, lead the way."
The entrance to the park was a couple hundred yards down the road so it wasn't long before we were inside scanning the horizon for the gals. We did see this small group of girls riding a little ways off, so we galloped up to engage them in conversation. I guess we scared them because they took off in a dead run--well all except one. My buddy took after the fleeing girls and I stopped to see what was wrong with the straggler. She said she couldn't get the horse to move. It wanted to go back to the stables where the girls had rented the horses.
I offered to let her ride Thunder and I would ride the rental which was agreed to and we finished out a pleasant ride together before her rental time was up. We never saw the other girls again or my old buddy. I never even knew his name.
I did find out that the girl I "caught" was named Betty Lee Tyler. I asked how she was going to get home. She said she would catch a street car that ran about 3 miles from the riding academy. I said that she could ride double with me on Thunder . She took me up on it. So off we went. As it turned out, she lived only a few blocks from where I lived. We never had met before, but went to the same school. I was two years ahead of her.
Betty bought her a horse and the both of us would ride together. Then I turned eighteen and registered for the draft during WWII. Betty talked me into volunteering for the U. S. Coast Guard and sure enough, there happened to be an opening when I was inducted. The idea was that I would get horse patrol along the U. S. coast. Nope. Didn't happen. Instead I became a radio operator on a ship in the Atlantic.
Boston, Mass. was my home port and it was here that I was transferred to a shore radio station when the war ended.
While waiting for my points for discharge, I phoned Betty and proposed marriage. She took me up on it and got on a train and travelled the 1800 miles to Boston. We found a Methodist Church not too far from the Common and with one of my ship mates as my best man and another who agreed to be Betty's Bride's Maid (LOL) we were married. That happened on October 26, 1945.
Here is a picture of us just after we were married in Boston, Mass.:
We would have been married 58 years October 26, 2003. But my dear Betty passed away on July 29, 2003.
When it comes my time to go, I hope to find her waiting on her horse at the rainbow bridge with my old horse Thunder. And we can still ride side-by-side as we did so many years ago.