Summer of ’55.

Our first year of marriage saw three hurricanes come to the Norfolk area. The priorities of the Navy were clear—take the ships up Chesapeake Bay, anchor them, and ride out the hurricane. Families were to remain home with little or no safeguards. So it was done three times. I vividly remember watching the eye of each hurricane on the radarscope in CIC. Our destroyer was well equipped for those adventures, but I can not say that Norma was equally equipped. She would patiently stay in our apartment with not transportation, listen to the radio and wonder was going to happen. Thankfully nothing of any consequence occurred. We were all safe.

I learned some valuable lessons from this. It is frustrating not to be able to protect our loved ones. There was absolutely nothing I could do except hope that everything would turn out OK. I had not learned the value of prayer; I could not communicate with my wife or family; I could only hope. In hindsight I now wonder how we frail humans get through life without the knowledge that God is with us. I don’t say we need a crutch—I am saying that life is much better when we can turn to a friend—which He is!

Norma went through these times with remarkable ease. Never having been away from family for more than a few days, she seemed resolved to her new “perilous” life with this strange husband who was bent upon going to sea. It was a drastic change in her life, and, as I look back, these days sealed our resolve to dedicate our lives to one another. It was to come later that we would dedicate our lives to God—but that is another story.
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