The story of meeting my Bride

Because I was working full time at the Sears RDC (1978) (Regional Distribution Center) in Fresno and commuting from Hanford, my Mom & Dad decided it was time for me to stop paying rent at home and move out on my own. So I found a small studio apartment in East Fresno and moved to the big city. I was lucky enough to have my cousin, Dan, attending Fresno State at the time and he was living at home not too far away. Dan and I spent a lot of time together in our after work/school hours. When he was not studying, we often would hang out together. His parents blessed me with the nickname, "Freddie the free loader," as I seemed to always show up at Dan’s house when it was time to eat!

Dan and I enjoyed playing racquetball and Ping-Pong in our spare time. The hard part was finding a place to play Ping-Pong, as my apartment complex did not have a game room. Dan and I met up with some girls that I knew from College of the Sequoias, Nancy Brown, Donna Hills and Shirley Azevedo. They all shared an apartment and their complex had a game room with a Ping-Pong table. They allowed Dan and I access and we used thier complex often and played many hours. Many times we just hung out and visited. I was a little sweet on Nancy while attending College of the Sequoias, but we just became friends. Nancy and Donna attended the same High School together and they introduced me to another Woodlake HS classmate, Anne Dudley, who was attending Fresno State and lived closer to the campus. I really had eyes for Anne, but Anne didn’t have eyes for me.

It was now December and I received a call asking Dan and I to join them for dinner and dancing as another high school friend was in town. I agreed, heck why not…. It was going to be Dan, 6 girls, and me. I liked the odds. When I got to the apartment I remember being introduced to Jeannie Williams. She was a cute, blue eyed, blonde athlete. Jeannie was on Christmas break form Point Loma College in San Diego, CA. That night we all went to the Black Angus for dinner. Seems like we were early and the only ones in the place. After dinner the girls wanted to dance, I don’t remember dancing with anyone else but Jeannie, the blonde from Exeter, CA. She liked softball and basketball and she had great eyes. After that evening was over, I knew I wanted to ask her out again, but I was really afraid to. Shirley and I must have talked about it for a good 4 hours and Shirley kept telling me to call and ask. I went home that weekend to Hanford and called. I asked if she would go out with me and she accepted. I was to pick her up at her parents' and take her to dinner at the Holiday Inn. I was so nervous that I might not find her home in the country that I left early and had to park in an orange orchard for 40 minutes and listen to the radio until it was time to pick her up. We went to the Holiday Inn and danced a little, but it was so loud I couldn’t hear. We left and just talked while driving around. It was an awesome night for me, so at the end of the evening I asked her to go out with me again, but she turned me down. I was crushed, but Jeannie explained that she would but she was going with Donna and others to LA to sleep on the streets so they could get a good spot to watch the Tournament of Roses Parade.

So in the days to come we wrote letters and talked on the phone for hours. My average phone bill was around $200 after meeting Jeannie. We could have saved some cash if we had E-mail then. Our long-distance relationship really helped us learn about each other. We were very honest about our feelings and goals. The hardest part was saying good bye over the phone. Each of us never wanted to hang up. We met every time she came home from Point Loma and our relationship just kept growing.

I asked Jeannie to marry me over the phone and she accepted. Not very romantic I know, but I didn’t want to lose her to anyone else. We decided to announce our engagement to our parents the weekend of my mom’s birthday. This gave us some time to shop for a ring set. My dad invited us to join them for a Saturday night birthday dinner at the Sportsman Club in Hanford. During dinner I informed my mom and dad that I had asked Jeannie to marry me and she had accepted. Jeannie showed my parents the ring she was proudly wearing. My parents were not surprised and very happy for us both. One strange thing that did occur was that during the meal I noticed this lady at the table behind Jeannie. I noticed her because every time I looked up she was winking at me. We are talking that sexy wink. I thought it was a joke and blew it off. Then as we just finished dinner, this lady came over to our table and asked to speak with me. I followed her outside where she handed me her home phone number and asked if we could meet later. She told me her friends set her up with this blind date, but she would rather go with me. As she invited me to her apartment in Bakersfield, I thanked her and told her that I had just announced my engagement inside. She was greatly embarrassed and apologized before returning inside.

Now I was really nervous about asking Jeannie’s Dad for his blessing. We joined Jeannie’s mom and sister for church in Woodlake Sunday, then returned to her mom and dad's for a great lunch. After lunch the family would gather around the TV to watch the Raiders (if they were on). Anyway, Jeannie and I sat on the couch chatting. I was waiting for that right time to pop the question. When I did get my nerve up, I stated to Vernon that I would like his blessing to marry his daughter. I didn’t receive an answer! Jeannie’s father had fallen asleep in his chair!! Jeannie’s mom had to wake him and did so by stating "Vernon, Bob wants to know if its OK to marry your daughter." While he was still waking…. He muttered something about, "I guess so."  How it occurred still makes us laugh today.

On March 29th 1980, I married Jeannie Williams. She is a Godly woman that has supported me though many struggles in life. If it were not for her, I would not be the Godly man I am today. So its true, behind every good man is a Godly woman. I have been blessed with one!