Walking a girl home from church

The summer of my 16th birthday I spent 2 weeks with a friend in Old Fort, N.C. He told me if we would go to church on Sunday night we might be able to walk two girls home from church. Of course I excitedly agreed.

It was quite an experience. The girls lived 3 to 5 miles from the church, mostly up hill. My friend Frankie claimed to have worn the soles of a good pair of engineers boots that night. It was great, I actually held the girls hand for a bit before we got to her house. We awkwardly said “bye” and began the trek back down the mountain walking along the gravel road in the darkness.

In my youth and before, this was a very common way for boys to get to know girls. In fact my mom and dad met at church and dad asked mom if he could “walk her from home from church” and a romance was kindled that lasted for almost 50 years until dad passed away.

Another romance that began on a walk home from church lasted several years and the now middle aged couple visited on Sunday afternoons at her parents house. As they were swinging back and forth on a porch swing, the fellow said to his lady “You know, we ought to get married”. Her reply was “God! I’d love to if we could find anybody that’d have us!”

Royce