Our first date took place a few weeks after school started in the first quarter of our freshman year, the fall of 1966. We met in Mrs. Wilder's 5 o'clock English class. Bill walked in late so he could check out the girls and see who he wanted to sit next to. I, of course, went early and took a seat in the back row so I wouldn't be noticed. When he asked me out for the weekend, I told him I was going home to Pana for my sister's birthday. Oh.....OK....that's understandable. The next week he asked me out for the weekend again. I told him I was going home to Pana for my sister's birthday. Hey.....didn't you use that excuse last weekend? He didn't know that Jean's birthday is September 10 and Karen's birthday is September 16. But when I got back to campus that Sunday evening, I called him; and we finally were able to get together.
The dorms didn't serve food on Sunday evenings and Bill never seemed to have any money left by the end of the week, so we always went somewhere close to campus and I would buy him dinner. Often we would go to a place called The Country School or to Walt's (now called Marty's). We tried to go there this evening to re-enact our first date, but it hasn't opened yet for this semester. Instead we went around the corner to Arby's where the waitress gave us a senior citizen discount. Boo!
Since money was always an issue, our dates didn't cost anything. Our first and favorite date was walking to a concrete bench situated behind Old Main. We would sit on the bench, talk a little, kiss a little, and watch the people walk by. When we got to the bench this evening, it had been replaced by a green metal bench. So we sat in our same spot anyway, and asked a passing student to take our picture. But then we walked all around Pemberton dorm and around Old Main until we actually found the exact bench we always used! It has been moved next to a back door of Old Main. Probably used by smokers now. I think Bill is going to talk with the president of Eastern and see if it would be possible for us to buy that bench. I would love to have it moved to our backyard. If we hadn't tried to re-enact our first date, we wouldn't have been snooping around on campus and realized that the bench we loved 45 years ago is still alive and well. 