Lillian Lorena Smith, Part 6

I was working as a carhop and Jerry came in, and he was flirting with me. He was real good looking, with black curly hair, and green eyes. He was real tan from working outside as a carpenter. I went back in after taking his order, and told the girls that I was working with that he was going to be my husband; they all laughed. On our first date we went to a drive in movie and talked all through it. I usually was bashful. And I could hardly believe we had talked so much. We went out every night after we got off work after that.
Around the first of July, he asked me to marry him. He always said that I had said “ In a minute,” but I don’t believe that I said that. A few days later he came over and was very sad. I asked him what was the matter, and he said that his father and stepmother were moving to Idaho, and he had to go with them. I asked him to stay in Altus, but he said that he couldn’t because he was only seventeen. I was nineteen at the time. Anyway, I talked it over with my sister and it was decided that I would move to Idaho with them. We decided to get married there.
Jerry had a 1956 Ford Crow Victorian, it was lime green and white. We drove it as we followed his parents. We left Altus on July 15 1964. It was over 100 degrees the day we left, but when we got to Colorado it was about 50 degrees, we about froze. Since I had never been anywhere like that before, I wouldn’t even take a nap for fear of missing something. I didn’t know how to drive, so Jerry had to drive all the way. Interstate 40 was not built as of yet, so we had to take route 66 most of the way. I thought we would never get there. When we did get there, it was to Payette Idaho that we moved. Payette borders Oregon. We found a place about ten miles out and into the country; we lived with Jerry’s parents.
The only place that Jerry could find work in Payette , was in a small factory where they cleaned hives and made honey. He would get stung so bad that his feet would swell up. His car broke down, so he had to walk back and forth to work every day. I felt so sorry for him. On July 29th 1964 we went over to Weiser and got our marriage license. We went over Hell’s Canyon, this was the scariest place AI had ever seen. The next day we were married, his father signed for him. I had never been so happy in all my life.