Off we go into the wild blue yonder . . .

Lucy#1 grew up in a small Florida town, but didn't want to live her whole life there. She did not enjoy being a small-town resident. She did not like it that everyone knew who she was, who her siblings were, who her mother was, etc. She wanted to go places where absolutely no one knew her or her family and no one had any opinions or expectations of her based on her older siblings. (Not that her siblings were anything to be ashamed of; quite the contrary. They were bright, productive, successful people, but Lucy#1 was tired of hearing, “Oh! Aren’t you [name-any-sibling]’s sister? I went to school with him/her.”) She wanted to see the world!

Lucy#1 planned to join the Air Force as soon as she graduated from high school. However, at that time, anyone under 21 needed parental consent to enter the service, and her mother refused to sign. I’m not sure why Grandma was dead-set against Lucy#1 joining the Air Force, but her refusal to sign off on the application caused quite a strain in the household.

Lucy#1 was just possibly a wee-little-bit headstrong and determined to get her own way, so she applied her usual tactics to change her mother’s mind. Lucy#1 had a perfectly good job, a clerical position in a firm where she worked her last year or two of high school; she quit. She didn’t get a new job, either! She spent her days hanging around the house or hanging out with friends. If anyone asked why she wasn’t working, she said she was waiting to go into the Air Force. She made it clear to everyone that she was going to goof off until she turned 21 or her mom signed the Air Force paperwork, whichever came first. Eventually, her brother, four years older than Lucy#1 and wise to her ways, talked Grandma into signing the papers. Lucy#1 was happy that he talked her into signing, but not so happy when she found out his winning argument was that Grandma should let her go because maybe then she would grow up!

Lucy#1 loved being in the Air Force. Here’s a photo of her in her uniform during basic training. Doesn’t she look happy? What a proud moment!

Following basic training in Texas, Lucy#1 was assigned to Westover, Massachusetts. There she had her first experience with people knowing she was from the South as soon as she spoke. She liked to tell the story of the first time she ordered a cup of coffee (pronounced with that central-Florida drawl as something close to “kawl-fee”) in Massachusetts. The waiter immediately asked her, “What part of the South are you from?” Lucy#1 was not amused; she was trying to get away from the South and it was following her! She told the waiter, “I live in Chicopee Falls,” to which he replied, “You may live in Chicopee Falls now, but you’re originally from the South. Nobody from Chicopee Falls has ever ordered a cup of kawl-fee.” That was the beginning of the end of Lucy#1’s Southern accent. She learned to speak with no accent at all, and only after she’d been living in Texas for 30 years did a little bit of drawl creep back in.

Lucy#1 enjoyed being in the Air Force. She made friends from all over the country, one of whom was so special to her that my sister is named after her! That friend, Colene, invited Lucy#1 back to her home in Colorado; they hitched rides on Air Force transport planes to make the trip from Massachusetts to Colorado and back. That was quite a fun adventure for two young women! I think I am remembering correctly that Colene’s mother is the one who used the toast that Lucy#1 loved to repeat for the rest of her life: “Here’s to those who wish us well! All the rest can go to hell!”

Lucy#1 met Leroy while she was stationed at Westover. He was also in the Air Force, and worked with a team that traveled around the country installing mag card machines for Base Supply. Lucy#1 was assigned to Base Supply at Westover, so they met at work. Three months later, they got married!! They were married for 37 years, until Leroy’s death. As Colene and I got older and began talking about marriage, Lucy#1 would tell us we should not get married before we were at least 25 and had dated the guy for at least a year. When we protested that she married at age 20 after knowing Leroy for only three months, Lucy#1 would say, “Yes, but I saw your father at work every day, all day and sometimes into the night, under stressful conditions. You find out a lot about a person's character when you see them working like that. Besides, we came from similar backgrounds.” I always saw an implied “I knew what I was doing” in her reply, and I guess she was right because she and Leroy were a very good match.

Under Massachusetts law at that time, anyone under 21 years of age needed parental consent to get married, so Lucy#1 had to, once again, seek her mother’s signature. That time, Grandma signed right away when she received the paperwork. When we asked why she didn’t fight the marriage the way she had fought the Air Force, especially since the courtship was so short and she had never met Leroy, Grandma said, “I figured if I didn’t sign, Lucy#1 would just go to another state or lie about her age. I knew she’d figure out some way around my refusal, so I gave her what she wanted.” Hahahaha!

When Lucy#1 got married, the Air Force booted her out! She hadn’t planned such a short enlistment, but she was willing to give up her own career for Leroy’s. They spent the first two-and-a-half years of their marriage moving from base to base every 60 to 90 days! I can't even imagine moving that often; how exciting and yet how burdensome that seems. It was definitely tricky sometimes: I was born only a day or two after they reached a new base, before they had even found an apartment! As soon as I arrived, Leroy left the hospital and scrambled to find a place to bring the two Lucys home to.  Here’s what we looked like in the new place:

This is one of my favorite photos! Leroy and Lucy#1 are so young! I think they look like they aren’t quite sure what to do next. They figured it out, though, and Leroy's military career gave them many adventures Lucy#1 would never have had if she'd stayed in Florida.

Yay, Air Force! I'm glad Lucy#1 signed up!



And in case you didn't guess it's significance, "Off we go into the wild blue yonder . . . " is the first line of the U. S. Air Force song. 

The last line of the first verse of the song is "We live in fame, go down in flame! Nothing can stop the U.S. Air Force!" One of Lucy#1's cohorts at Westover was dating a Marine and at the end of the Air Force song, she would always add, "Except the Marines." hahaha!