Week 53 -- Our Bench

Our bench became a seat for smokers outside Old Main.

     Some of you may remember that Bill and Cheryl's first date at Eastern Illinois University in September of 1966 was on a small bench by a flower bed on the quad just south of Old Main.
     We met in an English class that met at 5 p.m. When Bill first asked Cheryl out for a Saturday date, she said she had to go home because it was her sister's birthday.
     Oh, OK. The next weekend Bill again asked Cheryl for a date but she said she had to go home because it was her sister's birthday?!?
     He didn't know that Cheryl's sister Jean's birthday is Sept. 10 and her sister Karen's birthday is Sept. 16.
     But when she got back to campus Sunday evening, Cheryl called Bill. We went for a walk and wound up on the small concrete bench by the flowers on the quad and talked and kissed.
     We met on that bench quite a few times during our freshman year.
     It has always been our bench.
     Our bench always has been special to us, even when it was replaced several years ago and put outside an Old Main door as a place for EIU employees to smoke during their breaks! That was disappointing but at least our bench was still in use. But in the summer of 2013, while jogging through campus, Bill noticed our bench was gone.
     Worried that it was being discarded, we made a few phone calls and were told the bench would be returned.  A new concrete base had been laid and once the base was ready, the bench would be back. We kept watching, but the bench never came back.
     More phone calls.
     Finally, we were told by the manager of the Building and Grounds Department that the bench had been damaged when it was removed and would not be used again. It was in a discard heap in the woods behind the EIU baseball field.
     "You can have it," we were told. But one look at it showed the damage.

Our bench was broken and in a discard heap in fall 2013.

     Fortunately, Wendell Adams of Adams Memorials thought he could fix it. In late October one of his employees went to EIU and with help from Building and Grounds employee Greg Lee it was hauled away.
     A part of the bench had broken away and one leg had snapped off when our bench was originally moved for the concrete base upgrade.
     Adams was busy in late fall and with winter coming on, we were in no hurry to get our bench. But we wanted to save it, if possible, and bring it home with us.
     The Charleston weather finally turned nice in mid-April and our bench was ready for delivery. Adams Memorials did a fantastic job of restoring it.

Adams Memorials used a crane to deliver our bench.

      A couple Adams' employees brought our bench on a truck with a small crane to unload it and then used a dolly to take it deep into our back yard by the fire pit.
     And there it sits -- our bench. It's there for us anytime we want to sit on it or just look at it from the dining room window.
     Various people at EIU and at Adams thought there had to be something really meaningful connected with that bench. You can imagine what they asked us!
    Yes, they all asked!
     But our bench is just where two 18-year-old kids away from home for the first time got to know each other. It's where 45 years of marriage, three children, six grandchildren and so many shared memories got their start on a warm September Sunday evening.
     We've never forgotten it. And now the "three of us" are back together.

Our bench where it belongs -- at our house.