60 YEARS AGO

February 8 will always strike a special meaning in my heart as this was the day that my parents were married. On February 8, l948 Laurel Leckron and Vincent McBoyle were united in marriage by Rev. Ralph Manchee at the First Baptist Church in Abilene, Kansas. Classes at the University of Kansas were resuming the next day so late at night (after having wedding portraits taken in Salina and stopping by the farm so that my dad's grandmother Sexton could see them) they journeyed to Lawrence. Their first home was a small trailer house. They got locked out as they were carrying in gifts and could only stand out in the cold and look inside to see their keys on the dinette table. The locksmith who came was nice and didn't charge them. He said it was his wedding gift to them!

It is with tremendous love and devotion that I write about my parents and their lives together which my sisters Donneta, Laurel, and I were a part of. The older I get the more I appreciate them and ALL that they represented and did for me/us. So many things come to mind but to name a couple--they drove thousands of extra miles for a number of years so that their daughters could be in a strong Bible-believing church. (At the time I did not appreciate enough the extra time and financial implications this put on them, but what an eternal benefit in our lives.) I also remember how they kept using old handed down furniture so that the money could be used to buy a nice saxophone for me. Now I wish that I had listened even better when they talked of WWII--my dad being in the Army Air Corps and my mom working at the draft board and filling out the papers for her then fiance. Now I better understand why they would sit on the edge of their sits to listen when TV documentaries on Pearl Harbor, Battle of the Bulge, Normandy Invasion, and others came on. They understood and had lived through those guarded days.

I just loved visiting with them, and it seemed that we never ran out of things to talk about. As I was older before I got married, we were able to take fun trips together. They were delightful to travel with and so appreciative. So many funny things would happen that we laughed at not only at the time but everytime we remembered the event!

A neighbor lady once commented that they were such "a good team" as they worked together. She was correct and this observation meant so much to my parents. My husband, Tim, commented on how much they enjoyed each other and how much fun my folks had together. A few weeks before my dad died, a caregiver in their assisted living home heard my dad tell my mom, "Laurel, you will always be my Miss America." (I believe that they were watching the Miss America pagent on TV at the time.)

As an adult daughter the joy of this and these memories gives me untold joy and happiness. Many people start the journey together, but to see a couple finish so well and so beautifully is a profound testimony!

On the gravestone where my dad is buried and where my mom will be buried replications of their signatures--Vincent and Laurel--TOGETHER FOREVER. There is the Bible verse from Lamentations--"GREAT IS THY FAITHFULNESS"!

So it is with great thankfulness to God and His Great Faithfulness that I say, "Happy Anniversary" to my parents that I love and adore. Marilee