Walter & Betty

Walter and Betty sit at Daily Mass, as well as at Sunday Mass, in the front row of a pretty big Church. Walter moves mostly via a walker and Betty at this point. He’s always wearing his signature Member’s Only jacket and shuffles about like the robotic-mannequins a Disney World’s Hall of Presidents. Nothing makes Walter move too fast. I suppose that if even a canon went off behind or near Walter, he’d turn at the same speed to see what the noise was as he does when he turns ever so gently to look at me with his ice-blue eyes to say “hello” and “peace be with you”. Those same eyes are his most redeeming feature – there’s a depth and, ironically, a warmth to them that just makes you want to know Walter more. It’s like they have a tractor beam built into them luring you in for a closer “look”. Walter rises as quickly as he turns to say hello – as does he sit in his pew at the same speed. I almost feel funny using the word “speed” in the same sentence as “Walter”. Walter’s next best “surface” quality to me (beyond his super-cool jacket) is his arctic-white hair. I mean, Walter is in his late 90’s and his hair is “albino-white” per the Sherwin-Williams’ color wheel. At 6’-5” (less the 3 inches he’s lost from hunching over due to the ice formations on the branches of his hair), he’s a formidable physical presence.

Betty on the other hand feels much younger than Walter – even though she’s only five-years junior to him. The years have been much kinder to her. But what she’s gained in age, she’s lost to size. Betty’s only 4’-11”. Walter towers over her; even in his hunched-over, walker-dependent state. She is as strong as an ox after having to help Walter for the better part of the past 20 years (which probably explains the great shape that she’s in). While Walter has “gone-white” across his top, Betty’s hair has weathered like old barn wood into a steely-gray. She’s got a smile that warms your heart and she isn’t too selfish about sharing it with others.

I regularly see Walter and Betty coming to and from Church together in their Hyundai Sonata. They’re hard to miss already given their statures, but it helps to get noticed when you’re parking in the handicap spot right in front of Church. I was drawn to the two of them by the Holy Spirit – there was just something about them that I had to know more about. So, I asked them about their stories…

Walter: “I don’t really know where to start. Nobody ever asks me anything. What does it matter if I sit in the front row at Church or not?”

Betty: “Be nice Walter… Gregg’s our Friend.”

Walter: “I know that. I just don’t think we’re all that interesting.”

Gregg: “Well, Walter and Betty, you’re both very interesting to me. Please tell me about who you both are and where you both come from.”

Betty: “I’ll start first then. [Walter paused, of course, so Betty took pole position on this one] I was born on a farm in rural Indiana in 1923. I was the third of thirteen kids which wasn’t so crazy back then. I mean, my Folks needed a lot of Children with all of the work they had to take care of on the Family farm. We farmed all kinds of vegetables and had cows, chickens, etc. It was a beautiful spread of land and I loved it dearly.”

Walter: “Tell him about your brothers.”

Betty: “I was just about to get to that, Walter. Wait your turn. There were seven boys and six girls, but the boys were always getting into some form of trouble or another. I was the eldest girl, so I took care of most everybody excluding the two eldest boys; Billy and Joe. While the Great Depression was over, World War II had just broken-out across Europe and things had hit hard on the farm again. With most folks either enlisting, getting drafted, or supporting the war efforts at home, Billy and Joe were getting into more trouble than ever.”

Walter: “Tell him about the train.”

Betty: “I’m getting to that. The boys had snuck out one Summer night to go for a bit of a joy-ride in my Father’s old pick-up truck. They were on a back-country road and, I guess, they decided to try to outrun the nightly train that came through our town to the only railroad crossing for miles. They didn’t make it and the train took both of my Brothers and my Mom in the process. I became the new Mom in our house by the nature of being the next oldest. That was just before Pearl Harbor happened.”

Walter: “I’ll never forget that day. December 7th, 1941. I can still remember the chill in the air on that day. I grew-up on a farm much like Betty’s Family – just down the road. Betty and I went to the same school, but as I am five years older than her, we didn’t really know each other back then. Anyway, what choice did a man of 23 have at that point. I told my Father and Mother that I was joining the U.S. Marines along with my next eldest Brother, Mike, who was 21 years-old at the time. We left later that week with the farm in good hands between my Parents and our 9 other Siblings (7 boys and 2 girls).”

Betty: “Walter served in the Pacific.”

Walter: “I’m getting to that; it’s my turn now. Anyway, Mike and I served together for just over three years in all kinds of places. It was hard, but we had each other – even if we barely got to see each other. Then came Iwo Jima. I can still remember those awful, black beaches. For those of us still alive, we call it the beach of death. We lost roughly 7,000 Marines in that place; including Mike. I got shot in the thigh; chipping the bone and causing me a bit of a limp for the rest of my life. The U.S. Marines and Navy never found Mike’s body.” [It was at this point of the interview that Walter went very quiet and sat in an almost catatonic-state looking out across the restaurant window where we spoke]

Gregg: “So, Betty, how did the two of you meet?”

Betty: [After removing her hand that was now consoling Walter via his shoulder, she began] “We met at our town’s Founder’s Day Dance. Walter’s not much of a dancer, but he was quite an athlete and most of the folks around town knew who he was – including us younger gals. The war had aged both of us a bit, but the spark was still there in my step, so I stepped on over to him to see if he might like to dance. He said, ‘no thanks’, so I started to walk away. That’s when he said that he’d love a lemonade. That was it for me.”

Walter: “She was so beautiful in her navy dress with white polka-dots; I can still see it like it was yesterday. She was a vision and she looked absolutely beautiful to me.”

Betty: “We got married in our local Catholic Church later that Summer and laughed and sang all-night on Walter’s Family’s Farm. Walter’s military experience got him an interview at a local automotive plant and before you knew it, we had a little ranch house, five kids, and a couple of dogs right near our hometown.”

Walter: “Time flew-by fast from there. We raised the three boys and two girls in that little three-bedroom house and spent most Sundays at one of our Parent’s Farms enjoying Church Services and Sunday dinners as a great big Family.”

Betty: “That was until the 1960’s when our Parents started falling like flies. We lost all four Parents in the span of two years to cancer, heart disease, and Alzheimer’s. It was hard, but we had made the most of the time that we had with all four.”

Walter: “With our Folks gone, it was a bit easier for us to accept a job promotion for me to help expand my company’s manufacturing operations in Georgia. We moved in 1963 and never looked back.”

Betty: “That was until the Vietnam War. I think it was 1965 when the U.S. got involved in the war. With three Sons born ‘of age’, we both were very concerned; especially Walter. And, as the Lord would have it, Jack and Frank would serve – Jack by choice and Frank by draft. After losing Billy, Joe, and Mike, we were Praying more than ever. But the Lord decided to take our Frank. We buried Frank in 1970 and I’ll never forget the ceremony. The folding of the U.S. Flag and the 21-gun salute; the crisp fall air in Georgia that afternoon.”

Walter: “I never thought I’d bury a Son. I never cared too much about what happened to me, but losing Frank was really hard on the both of us.” [It was at this point of the interview that Walter went very quiet again reverting to his almost catatonic-state from earlier in the interview]

Gregg: “Please tell me about your Faiths.”

Walter: “Well, we’re both ‘Cradle-Catholics’ and were raised accordingly. In my Family, you went to Church on Sundays and that was just it.”

Betty: “Yeah, but your Family was more of a part of the ‘frozen-Chosen’ than the ‘evangelical’. To be fair, watching Walter’s Family was nice as they are all very Reverent, but it’s like watching a row of synchronized swimmers or a calisthenics’ class at the gym. They’re very well coordinated.”

Walter: “Okay…okay… My Dad was strict, Religiously-speaking. As was my Mom. They laid a pretty good foundation for me and my Siblings. Things were very...