In Sept. 1973, I was in my 2nd year of attending Eastfield Community College. I was part of a group of friends who would hang out in a common area, playing cards and just talking, between classes. There were about 8-9 of us.
One of the group was a guy named Reavis Wortham I had been friends with since we were about 12-13 yrs old. One day he began telling me about a guy in a couple of his classes that he thought I might like enough to date. I wasnt dating anyone at the time.
I wasnt really interested in dating at the time, at least not anyone seriously. Reavis started bringing this guy named Tom Gorman to hang out with our group. Tom had just gotten out of the US Navy in April and enrolled in Eastfield. He had been a nuclear power machinist mate in the Navy. He was originally from Denver, Colorado but, his family had moved to Texas while he was in the Navy.
It became very apparent he was very intelligent and pretty handsome. He had a full beard and beautiful brown eyes! He was also a jokester too. However, he was 6 yrs older than me.
He had asked me out a few times over the weeks since we had met. I had resisted accepting his offers of a date. However, as November approached, my high school homecoming was coming up. I had graduated in 1972, a year before. My brother was still in high school and in the marching band, so my parents always attended the football games.
I knew I would be attending the game as well and I decided I would ask Tom to take me. He readily agreed! There was a possible roadblock...I had never dated anyone that my parents didnt know. In addition to being a full-time student, Tom also had a job. There wasnt going to be a chance for my parents to meet him.
Because my brother had to be at the stadium early, my parents had to take him. I stayed home, waiting until Tom got off of work and would pick me up. Once we got to the stadium, we found where my parents were sitting. I introduced Tom to my parents. When my dad found out Tom had just gotten out of the Navy, he immediately paid close attention. My dad had also been in the Navy, just after World War II. Tom had been in the Viet Nam War.
After the football game, Tom took me out for burgers and I was home by just after midnight. Tom was just coming down with a cold so, he didnt kiss me goodnight to keep me from catching his cold.
The night had been wonderful! I had totally enjoyed being with him, attending the game and showing Tom off to some of my fellow past graduates. That was Friday night, Nov. 3, 1973. The next day, Saturday, Nov. 4th, I received a dozen beautiful, red, long-stemmed roses, from Tom! To say I was speechless is an understatement! Id never been given flowers of any kind, by anyone, EVER!
From that date, we were a couple. Six months later, in May 1974, at my brothers high school graduation, we got engaged and almost exactly a year later, we married! Last November 2023, was the 50th anniversary of our first date, this coming May, we would have been engaged for 50 yrs and next year, on May 30, 2025, we would have been married 50 yrs!
Tom died in March 2018 and in May 2018, we would have celebrated 43 yrs of marriage. Also, Tom died 19 days before his 70th birthday. I miss him every minute of every day of my life.
My paternal grandmother was a widow for almost 20 yrs, one of my great-aunts was a widow for over 60 yrs! I cannot imagine how they managed being widowed for that length of time.
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