Eddie and I went to Guyan Valley High School together from 1954 through 1957, but we never spoke.
He was from up the river and I was from down the river. He was a year ahead of me.
But I saw him for sure. He was a basketball player who practiced all around
the year. All during football season, you could see Eddie in the gym shooting hoops. I have seen him make several
from half court during a game.
We started dating
while I was in college. Within a year we were married in 1960. We first had a daughter, Alanna, and then two sons,
Keith and Andrew. They have added a grandaughter and three grandsons to our family.
We bought our first horse in the mid 60's. Both of us had horses when
we were young. We sold out after about 1974. We dedicated several years to doing things with the children. Every
time the gym opened, we were sitting in the stands.
But
you never get over loving horses. There is no cure for it.
Ed got a six month old colt in 1990. A couple hundred thousand dollars later we have had as
high as ten horses. In the pasture and the barn now are five beautiful Tennessee Walkers.
We had to build the horse a barn, then a good deal on a friend's
horse, then a horse for me, then we had to buy the horses a trailer, then a bigger truck soon followed by a bigger
trailer and more horses.
Years ago we used to
show a little but now our great love is trail riding. I used to say that when you show a horse, you clean him up for
three or four hours, travel a couple hours, wait a couple hours, show the horse three laps of the ring both ways and get cheated
out of a ribbon by politics, wait another two hours and drive home a couple hours and get home at two in the morning!
Can you tell me again why I would want to show horses? Not enough saddle
time for us.
Now, riding through beautiful
country on a good horse with good friends for four to eight hours. That is quality time!
Then in 1992 we started a saddle club that grew beyond our dreams. Next I
started writing articles for the club newsletter about our trail rides. The Smoky book followed and now this web site.
Now we have reached the ages of 68 and 70 years
old and we have been married 49 years. It has been a wonderful and blessed life.
