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Walter and I got married the day after graduation. We had two daughters. Tinese, our youngest died in 1980. Tammy Neighbors lives in Karnack, Tx. We have two grandchildren, Nicole and Craig and 2 1/2 great grandchildren, Jocelyn, Christian and the new one will be here in August.Walter is from the class of '62 we met at school. We just knew who each other were until one fateful night when Scherry Snider, class of '62, was to spend the night with me. After the football game, Scherry and I went to the Teen Canteen at the Womens Department Club. Walter was there and she told him it would be nice if he took us home so my mother didn't have to get out to come get us. At the time, I was living in town. My dad was building our new house at Kirkland so we lived in town for 3 months. Walter said I snookered him because he thought I was a town girl. He never thought he would have to drive 15 miles to pick me up and take me home. Of course, gas was at the highest 15 cents a gallon. He could get a dollars worth of gas and make it all week. Oh for those prices again!
Walter was stationed at Fort Knox from 1962-1963. Frankfurt Germany 1963-64 then we moved to Butzback, Germany until 1966. He was in the 3rd Armored Division. In Frankfurt, we lived about 6 blocks from downtown on the sixth floor (no elevator). We had one room and had to share the bathroom with 12 other people who lived on that floor. If you wanted a bath you put 20 phennings in the machine and waited. I found out you had to guard your bath water or someone would steal it!From Germany we went back to Fort Knox until 1967. Walter went to Korea and Tammy and I went back to Childress for the year. Our youngest was born a month after he left. He did get to come back on leave when she was 6 months old. Then we went back to Germany in 1968, this time to Erlangen, 4th Armored Division. We were until late 69 and he had to go to Vietnam. The girls and I came back to Childress during his tour there. I worked at the Office Supply for the first time while he was gone this time. After Vietnam, Walter went to Ft Dix for 6 months, then went to Ft. Sill from 1971-72. 1972-73 he went back to Korea, the girls and I stayed in Lawton. I had a job and Tammy was in school. It was close enough to get to Childress for the weekend. In 1973, he came back to Ft Sill we stayed there until 1976. In '76 we went back to Germany. This time to Mannhiem. At least here I finally got the germans to understand myGerman. In 1979 we went to Ft Riley Kansas. We were there until he retired in 1982.
When Walter retired from the army in 1982, we moved back to Childress. I worked at the Childress Office Supply until I went to work at the Farmers Coop Gin. I retired September 1, 2007. We plan on traveling now that we are both retired. We have a trailer and just travel at our leisure.
7 comments:
Linda,
You have been a great help to us in finding our former classmates!
If I am not mistaken you played a huge part in putting together our past reunions in Childress so we owe you a big Thank You!
When I talked to you last, you told me that you and Walter were living in your old home place where you had always lived. However, I am curious about where you lived while Walter was in the Army and when and how you two became a couple. Right now you definitely have us on the number of years married! 45!! By the way you are definitely way to young to be a great-grandmother.
I am really glad you have shared with us--now tell us more!!
Hi, Linda. I join Nicki in thanking you for all your help in locating our classmates. I was delighted to learn that you and Walter may join us in Las Vegas for the reunion, and I truly look forward to seeing you again.
I am also curious to learn more about your life with Walter while he was in service and your world travels. I have always been fascinated by other cultures and customs, and I'm sure you have many stories to relate, which we hope to see here soon.
Another career Army couple! Yayyy!
Linda, I'm wondering where y'all were stationed while Walter was on active duty. Maybe some of our tours overlapped.
It seems we all want more information, Linda, on your worldly travels! Please share with us. And congratulations on 45 years of marriage.
Walter is from the class of '62 we met at school. We just knew who each other were until one fateful night when Scherry Snider, class of '62, was to spend the night with me. After the football game, Scherry and I went to the Teen Canteen at the Womens Department Club. Walter was there and she told him it would be nice if he took us home so my mother didn't have to get out to come get us. At the time, I was living in town. My dad was building our new house at Kirkland so we lived in town for 3 months. Walter said I snookered him because he thought I was a town girl. He never thought he would have to drive 15 miles to pick me up and take me home. Of course, gas was at the highest 15 cents a gallon. He could get a dollars worth of gas and make it all week. Oh for those prices again!
Mr Morris, Walter was stationed at Fort Knox from 1962-1963. Frankfurt Germany 1963-64 then we moved to Butzback, Germany until 1966. He was in the 3rd Armored Division. In Frankfurt, we lived about 6 blocks from downtown on the sixth floor (no elevator). We had one room and had to share the bathroom with 12 other people who lived on that floor. If you wanted a bath you put 20 phennings in the machine and waited. I found out you had to guard your bath water or someone would steal it!
From Germany we went back to Fort Knox until 1967. Walter went to Korea and Tammy and I went back to Childress for the year. Our youngest was born a month after he left. He did get to come back on leave when she was 6 months old. Then we went back to Germany in 1968, this time to Erlangen, 4th Armored Division. We were until late 69 and he had to go to Vietnam. The girls and I came back to Childress during his tour there. I worked at the Office Supply for the first time while he was gone this time. After Vietnam, Walter went to Ft Dix for 6 months, then went to Ft. Sill from 1971-72. 1972-73 he went back to Korea, the girls and I stayed in Lawton. I had a job and Tammy was in school. It was close enough to get to Childress for the weekend. In 1973, he came back to Ft Sill we stayed there until 1976. In '76 we went back to Germany. This time to Mannhiem. At least here I finally got the germans to understand my german. In 1979 we went to Ft Riley Kansas. We were there until he retired in 1982.
By the way, Mr. Morris do you remember analyzing our hand writing? I still have the one you did for me in my box of stuff. Some of it was right on and some was not.
Linda
Linda (and you surely don’t need to call me Mr. *grin*), thanks so much for your recap of Walter’s and your military tours. I always like to hear from folks who have lived the gypsy life in the Army and see if any of our units or locations have coincided.
I find from reading your comment that Walter and I had very little chance of running into each other during our careers even though we did serve in many of the same locations: Germany, Korea, Vietnam, and even Ft. Sill. But, our times in these locations didn’t overlap, and the likelihood of our ever meeting would also have been lessened due to the fact that Walter was in the Armor branch and I was in the Field Artillery. I did serve in an Armored Cavalry unit as an artillery liaison officer/forward observer/air observer in Vietnam; but this was in 1967. I was with the 25th Infantry Division, and our base camp was at Cu Chi.
The only time we came close to being in the same place at the same time was during your last tour in Germany. I arrived there in ’79, but that’s when you all departed for Fort Riley. I was stationed in Heidelberg, but since I worked in the Office of the USAREUR Inspector General, I traveled all over Germany—and Italy, Greece, and Turkey. I did take inspection teams to various Armor units in Germany, but the odds of one of them being Walter’s is probably astronomical.
I did have three tours at Fort Sill during my career, but when you all were there (1971-72), I was just leaving West Point for Fort Leavenworth (for a year) and then Korea. In Korea, I was assigned to an Honest John battalion in the 4th Missile Command in Chun Chon, about 60 kilometers south of the DMZ. To my knowledge, there weren’t any Armor units in that immediate vicinity.
Sharon and I loved Germany. We loved the beautiful, clean country, the good food (fattening though it was!), and the generosity of the German people once you got to know them. We went to Germany at a time when the monetary exchange rate was not good, but we still enjoyed it. I chuckled reading about your first set of quarters. We didn’t have to share the floor with 12 people or pay to take a bath, but our living conditions were a bit bizarre. When we arrived, there was a shortage of permanent quarters; so Sharon and I and our two little girls (our oldest being in college in the States) were put in “temporary” quarters on the fifth floor (no elevator) of an apartment building. The fifth floor of the building was what they called “maids’ quarters” way back in the old days when the exchange rate was good enough that some high-rankers could actually hire maids. The maids’ quarters floor consisted of a very small “living room,” a kitchen the size of a closet, a bathroom with shower, also the size of a closet, and a total of EIGHT small bedrooms on each side of a very long hallway. I don’t know exactly how long we lived there before we got a permanent apartment, but it seemed like forever. The only good thing about the temporary arrangement was that we could store all our items that we had shipped over in five vacant bedrooms; so we didn’t have to unpack and then pack up again when we moved to permanent quarters.
I’m sorry to say that I really don’t remember analyzing your handwriting, but I have no doubt that I did. It was a sort of “party trick” that I did pretty often back in those days. I’m not surprised that some of what I said was wrong—graphology isn’t what you could call an exact science. In fact, it’s probably on par with palm reading. *grin*
Well, I’m glad you and Walter and the rest of your family survived the nomadic life of an Army family. I know it’s tough on wives; but, on the other hand, it certainly made Sharon independent and resourceful—since the wife was always left to take care of everything when we soldiers were deployed. I also think that it’s generally good for kids to grow up as “Army brats.” All that travel and having to adjust to new situations certainly gives them a good education and makes them adaptable to functioning in new (and often surprising) circumstances. I know that our girls definitely benefited.
To tell the truth, I miss the Army (and I think Sharon does, too), and I regret that I’m now too old and “stove up” to tote a part of the load that we’re asking our young military men and women to carry today.
Thanks again for the information, Linda; and good luck to all the Rothwells.
Hi Linda,
I am so sorry to hear that you lost a child. I guess that is a pain that will never go away.
Reading the comment about your life in the Army, and also reading Darryl's about his and Sharon's life in the Army makes my head swirl. living on the 5th or 6th floor and not having an elevator...waiting in line for a shower sounds a lot like living in a boarding house. You speak of your experiences, yet I never heard you complain. I am assuming that when life offers you an adventure, you just take it and go..there is no time to complain. HUH! You must have been a great Army wife.
It has been great to read about your life's experiences. I hope you and Walter will be in Vegas for the reunion because I would love to see you again.
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