The young sailor was discharged from the Navy in San Diego, California. He had served honorably during the Second World War, and he was not ready to go back to Northeast Arkansas, to the family farm. He did not have anything against farming, or hard work. But now he had a bigger dream. He believed there was some rewarding future for him, if he would just take his time to decide his long term future. He knew how to apply himself when there was a prize to be won.
He had been valedictorian in his small country school. As a child during the depression he had come to understand that he had to carry his own load. He had not only farmed, but also hacked out cross ties for the railroad when he was only 14. Each tie brought in the princely sum of 50 cents. On a good day he could make $1.50.
Now, as he stood on the pier in San Diego, he decided to take a trip to the Texas Gulf Coast before heading back to Arkansas, if he ever went back. He had heard that two of his Dad’s brothers were working for a big chemical plant down there. He hoped he could secure a solid job that would secure his future.
When R.L, the young ex-sailor arrived, he stepped off the bus into the sweltering heat and humidity of July in Freeport, Texas. And he immediately attacked by what he first thought was a flock of small birds. But the truth was that it was only a cloud of salt grass mosquitoes.
R. L. also discovered he was not the only warrior to have chosen this course. When he applied at the big chemical plant the first time, he was told that there was no job for him at the time. But rather than give up on the goal, R.L. was able to secure work selling tractors in a nearby community called El Campo. He stayed on that job for three months and was a good worker. Selling was not his cup of tea, but it did provide a few dollars to keep him fed and in his rented room.
But every week R.L. went to the personnel office at the chemical plant. His persistence paid off. In his third month of knocking on the door, he was hired as an operator in the chlorinated methane department. He was making 96 cents an hour and had fringe benefits he could hardly believe.
Such security allowed R. L.’s mind to wander back to the young woman he had met when was stationed in Philadelphia for a few months during his military service. He had no real reason to believe she could be serious about a bumpkin from the woods outside Jonesboro, Arkansas. She was a professional woman from Trenton, New Jersey. They had corresponded some while he was aboard ship, but there was no mention of long term commitment. He was wasting his time thinking of her.
But as days went by, R. L. decided it could do no harm to let her know of his dreams. He called her. During the call he got up the courage to ask her to consider becoming his wife. To his shock, Betty said she would marry him. She spent a few days getting things in order and making arrangements to take the train from New Jersey to Texas.
It was a horrible trip for Betty. She had motion sickness for the three days it took to reach the train station in the small town of New Gulf, Texas. To make matters worse, New Gulf was built around the sulfur mine that had been discovered there. The odor was more than Betty could take, and she again wretched.
R. L. was waiting at the station, along with his cousin, Gordon. They helped Betty to Gordon’s car, and collected her luggage. They went straight to Gordon’s family’s home, where the local parson was waiting to lead R. L. and Betty in their marriage vows. Betty was so weak from her sickness that Gordon had to literally hold her up through the ceremony.
That unlikely beginning blossomed into a wonderful story of love and family and community service. There were four children born to the two, and the job at the chemical company grew and provided plenty of comfort and opportunity for success for the whole clan.
These two individuals from such different backgrounds, drawn together by the war were perhaps an unlikely match. But they had common goals and common commitment. It would be hard to ask for or expect much more than they shared.
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