1967a Marriage
the year Susie and I married, the year she worked for South Central Bell,
the year she graduated high school.
1967-02-19 The week of February 19th to March 4th I finally got 2 weeks leave. I saw my family for the first time since the previous August. Mother met me at the train station. I was hoping Susie would come running to meet me at the train terminal in B'ham like girls do in movies when they see a long, lost loved one for the first time.  The Birmingham Train Terminal before it was torn down in 1969 |
She didn't come running to meet me. My mother met me instead. Susie had twisted her ankle and was in pain, waiting for me in the back seat of my mother's car. Because the pain distracted her, she didn’t even act that happy to see me. It was not the homecoming I had anticipated. Knowing her home life at the time, there may also have been other circumstances she was dealing with that she never mentioned to me. She was not gettting along well with her father that year.  Coot Little - 1969 |
1967-Feb I came home to make Susie my wife. We had originally planned on getting married on the 25th and for many years thereafter, I got confused about our anniversary date. For some reason I’ve since forgotten, Susie changed the date to the 24th. She had everything planned, though, except for a few things. We needed wedding rings. My brother Rick was assistant manager of Lorch Jewelers in Bessemer. I went to him for our rings. As I recall, he charged me less than $20 for them both. Gold was LOT cheaper back then and he gave me his manager's discount.  Rick at Lorch Jewelers in Bessemer |
I had done a little research and found a rule that allowed me to "dress up" my dress blue uniform. Instead of the regulation blue shirt and straight tie I could wear a white shirt and black bow tie at a wedding with a white rope on my shoulder as long as I also wore white gloves. I foolishly forgot to bring my regular tie and attire when I returned to the base. Soon as I got off the train dressed that way, a drill sergeant shouted at me, "Airman!" (Sir) "Are you going to a funeral?" (No Sir) "Are part of an honor guard?" (No Sir) "THEN TAKE OFF THE ROPE!" My mother loved the way I looked and snapped this photo in her living room:  Doris Vincent photo - 1967 |
Susie had arranged for a professional photographer to take our wedding photo at his studio in Bessemer. We both dressed up for the occasion and had the photo below taken on our way to get our blood tests.  Wedding photo by a professional photography studio in Bessemer |
1967-02-24 We were married at Coot and Dot's church, Garywood Baptist. My brother Rick was my best man. Sandy was Susie's Matron of Honor. Rick had Sandy laughing so hard that she wasn't able to compose herself for this photo.  L to R: Sandy Little, Rev. Harold Brown, Susie, Ron, & Rick Vincent |
Susie also arranged her own wedding reception. She even baked her own cake. At the reception which was held on her parents' kitchen dining table, someone said, "Let's take photos in the living room." We moved to the living when someone asked us to post. I chose to pose as the guy who swept my young bride off her feet. That's Dot's mother sitting to the left, laughing at us.  Photo in Dot's living room with Gertrude Youngblood |
We had very little money for a honeymoon so it was quite a welcome gift when our Hardy Road neighbor, Bud Cahela, gave us a gift of $50 cash. It paid for our trip expenses. Remember that his wife, Joyce Cahela, was responsible for arranging our first date! It was already late in the day by the time we left so we only made it as far as Montgomery, Alabama our first night. Our wedding night was spent in a motel there. For our trip, we went to Pensacola, Florida for a couple days. I had made no plans whatever. Neither had Susie. For supper that night, I bought a pizza. They asked, "What size" and I said, "Large." The thing was 2 feet across. We ate off it for 2 days. Since neither of us knew what to do, I took her to a movie the first night in Florida. The next day we visited the museum at the local Navy base. We would have enjoyed doing anything so it didn't matter where we went or what we did. When we returned, we enjoyed visiting with my parents briefly but I had to return quickly to the base. |
I left to return to Chanute Air Force Base. Susie went back to Hueytown High to finish her senior year and to graduate. Since neither of us wanted to wait 'til May to get see each other and get married, I had insisted that she finish school and get her diploma. She did but her grades plummeted after our marriage from almost straight A's to barely passing. She said she didn't care. By the time we married she already had enough credits to graduate.  Hueytown High School main entrance and gymnasium |
1967-March Susie went to work at South Central Bell Telephone Company in Birmingham as a telephone operator. Susie had worked in retail sales prior to that. The money came in handy during her senior year. Her neighbor and best friend, Naomi Crawford, also got a job with Bell as an operator. Her dad said he had fallen on hard times and could not afford the cost of a senior ring or high school annual so Susie earned enough to pay for her own annual, her own ring, and her own clothes. She also paid for her sister’s annual and ring during Sandy's senior year. For the rest of Susie’s life, Sandy never forgot what Susie did for her. One of the issues she had with her father was when he bought an electric guitar and amplifier from Sears after my dad had gotten the nice one for me. He bought it on credit but Susie figured if he could afford a guitar, he could also have afforded a senior ring. |
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