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Letter to the editor

Sub crew reunions not just guy thing

By TAMARA EL-KHOURY
Published May 11, 2005

The wives of the USS Plaice look forward to the annual reunions just as much as the men do. The women have their own stories to swap.

The ladies of the Greatest Generation shared some thoughts on friendship, marriage and gravy.

On the reunions:

"Once you're a widow, they still don't forget you," said Charline Fielding. Her husband, Wayne, died in 1994.

"One of the greatest things has been these reunions. He never really talked about it; this opened him up," said Dorothy Turner.

"It was the silent service," said Fielding.

"At the age most of us are getting, our kids are coming with us, bringing us so our families are growing," said Mary Nelson.

"Take a look at their faces today. Saturday they came in all gloomy," said Rita Brown.

"This is the highlight of their year," said Nelson.

On letters:

"They cut out, censored letters. We never really knew anything; all we knew was that they loved us," said Brown.

"In black, on the bottom was, "Tell your husband not to talk too much,' " Anne Rodgers said of a censor's message on the bottom of a heavily blacked-out letter.

On marriage:

"Divorce wasn't even an option," said Nelson, who has been married for 58 years. "It wasn't if it was going to work out. It was going to work out."

"They're all easygoing guys, so if you had hard times, you worked it out," said Dorothy Turner, married for 56 years.

"We must have done something right. We have seven children and 20-something grandchildren. I lost count," said Jean Butcher, who has 23 grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.

"Probably most of us didn't have anything but each other," said Fielding, whose husband died right before their 50th anniversary.

"I think we ruined this generation because we worked to give them everything," said Brown, who has been married for 59 years. "The first thing they get is that big TV. . . ."

"Then they stop talking to each other," said Janet Bosch, married for 11 years.

"Seven years it took me to make gravy. . . . I finally get the perfect batch of gravy, and I said, "John, I finally did it,' and he said, "That's nice but I don't really like gravy,' " said Brown.

On younger generations:

"I think you all have a really hard road with all the drugs and sex. When I was in high school, I didn't know anyone who drank or did sex," said Nelson.

[Last modified May 11, 2005, 00:46:18]