Forty-seven years ago on June first 1968 I married the man who captured my heart while living in Waikiki, Hawaii. In my book “A Wish Called Wanda” I describe him as being “polite, thoughtful, nice-looking and attentive. He wasn’t a big guy per se but he could just about swallow my five-foot three, 112-pound frame in an embrace.” Although he was plenty tall enough for me, he was a bit shorter than his roommate whom he was standing beside when I nudged my roommate and said “I’ll take the short one” just so she knew not to get any ideas. I had first and thankfully last dibs on him and am so thankful for our marriage, the Christian home we have established, our children and grandchildren who have made our lives complete. This past April I made a return trip to Hawaii just to have another look at where it all began.
This is the building that replaced the apartment on Saratoga Rd where I lived when I met Dick. The hotel right beside it was where my roommate and I spent our first couple nights in Hawaii in 1965. Location, location, location was the deal here. We were right across from Fort DeRussy Beach, an R&R resort for the military. It was and is still a public beach where we spent many a happy hour among the palm trees and lawn areas.
Still as pretty as ever, a beautiful spot to “pop the question.”
We were married in the First Baptist Church of Honolulu. My recent visit there brought back lovely memories and reminded me that my sister Pat was also married in this church. My brother Ken and my cousin Alma met their spouses here in our very active youth group.
During this visit I was given opportunity to share these and other stories of my time here in the mid-sixties.
After we were married we moved up the street a little ways near Ala Moana Blvd. We sat near this lagoon and watched the workers place the tiles on the Rainbow Hotel.
Another favorite pastime was to buy a banana Popsicle and walk through the yacht harbor dreaming of boats he would like to have and why. None of those tall buildings you see on this picture were there then, except the one on the far right. Back then it was a revolving restaurant with brilliant views, today it houses business offices.
Lizards or gecko’s were very common place back then. They were in our houses and just about everywhere you looked. This is the only one I saw on our trip in April.
The Crouching Lion Inn was a nice restaurant located near here that no longer exists, but you can see the mighty beast still commands the mountain. 
This beach is near Punaluu near where we spent our honeymoon.
After our three day get away, our wedding guests from home met us and we spent the day at the Polynesian Cultural Center. On the visit to the center in 2015 we learned that the center was celebrating its 50th anniversary which means they opened in 1965, my first year in Hawaii.
Seven years ago we celebrated our 40th anniversary with what I called an Hawaiian Luau and what Dick called a Pennsylvania Pig Roast. After seeing this picture I may have to concede that ours was a PA Pig Roast. This years celebration is much quieter as Dick recovers from recent foot surgery. Thanks for coming along with me as we looked back to where it all began. I have to add that reading the letters that made up most of the book made me fall in love with him, and life all over again. We look forward to many more years together.
You certainly started your lives together in a beautiful part of the world– great for making memories!
My apologies for that no sense sentence about the cultural center. Not sure where that came from.