34-YEAR GAP AND ROMANCE TIES THE KNOT.Byline: Lola Sherman The San Diego San Diego (săn dēā`gō), city (1990 pop. 1,110,549), seat of San Diego co., S Calif., on San Diego Bay; inc. 1850. San Diego includes the unincorporated communities of La Jolla and Spring Valley. Coronado is across the bay. Union-Tribune It took more than three decades, modern technology and an entire women's college softball College softball is softball as played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education, predominantly in the United States. College softball is played by women at the intercollegiate level, whereas college baseball is played by men. team to get this couple to the altar. Their love both old and new, Marva Bledsoe and Ray Rhubottom were to exchange wedding vows here this weekend - the 34th anniversary of their meeting at a Chinese New Year's parade in San Francisco San Francisco (săn frănsĭs`kō), city (1990 pop. 723,959), coextensive with San Francisco co., W Calif., on the tip of a peninsula between the Pacific Ocean and San Francisco Bay, which are connected by the strait known as the Golden . She had just turned 18 and was a freshman at the University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley is a public research university located in Berkeley, California, United States. Commonly referred to as UC Berkeley, Berkeley and Cal . He was 21, a sailor on liberty from the newly commissioned Kitty Hawk Kitty Hawk or Kittyhawk, part of an offshore sandbar on Cape Hatteras, NE N.C., E of Albemarle Sound. Nearby is Kill Devil Hill, where the Wright brothers experimented successfully (1900–1903) with gliders and airplanes. . She was watching the parade with a neighbor, her roommate and sisters Barbara, 15, and Janet, 13. The roommate backed up, stepped on a sailor's foot and apologized. He was there with two buddies, and the ensuing conversations led to a cramped ride around San Francisco - eight people stuffed into a Renault that Bledsoe had borrowed from a cousin. She'd driven it from Berkeley with the emergency brake on, so it was a bit smoky. Bledsoe asked if any of the sailors knew anything about cars. Rhubottom volunteered that he did, though Bledsoe says now he didn't. When the sailors had to go back to the ship, she gave him her phone number. What ensued were five wonderful months of movies and dances, picnics and walking and talking - lots of walking because it was "what poor college students did," Bledsoe said. Then, as suddenly as he'd come into her life, the sailor left it. Having served the two years of active duty required of his Naval Reserve A Naval Reserve is the reserve body of a nation's Navy, typically called-upon in times of conflict. Naval Reserves include;
She was devastated dev·as·tate tr.v. dev·as·tat·ed, dev·as·tat·ing, dev·as·tates 1. To lay waste; destroy. 2. To overwhelm; confound; stun: was devastated by the rude remark. . Had she just been a casual fling? Did he have a girl in every port? Those questions would haunt her over the years. Why didn't she call or try to find him? Because "nice girls didn't do that. Besides, I did not know what I'd find." But Bledsoe survived the tears that flowed every time she heard the first notes of "I Left My Heart in San Francisco," graduated, moved back home to Ontario, Calif., married and had two children. The marriage eventually ended in divorce, as did a second one. Bledsoe went on to became a prominent member of the Oceanside community. She has been executive director of the Women's Resource Center since 1980 and is an active director of the Chamber of Commerce. Meanwhile, Rhubottom also married and had a son. He worked for a pharmaceutical company and was transferred to South Dakota South Dakota (dəkō`tə), state in the N central United States. It is bordered by North Dakota (N), Minnesota and Iowa (E), Nebraska (S), and Wyoming and Montana (W). . He later bought an auto parts Auto parts are components of automobiles. They mainly are, in alphabetic order (only car specific articles or articles with car section):
When his marriage collapsed, he began to wonder about the long ago and far away. It wasn't that he hadn't tried to find her on occasion. But her family had moved to Oceanside in 1965, and he was still trying to find them in Ontario. During Thanksgiving weekend in 1994, his son, Jason, 26, a university student, brought home a computer program that had phone listings for people throughout the United States. But Rhubottom didn't expect to find Bledsoe by her maiden name. She says it was "fate" that she kept a Bledsoe listing all those years. It took Rhubottom two days to work up the courage to call. Would she remember him, he thought, or would she be happily married and dismiss him after some polite chitchat? Rhubottom planned two questions to identify the right Marva Bledsoe - "Is this the coed who went to the University of California The University of California has a combined student body of more than 191,000 students, over 1,340,000 living alumni, and a combined systemwide and campus endowment of just over $7.3 billion (8th largest in the United States). in 1962?" and "Is this the coed who went on a picnic in Golden Gate Park This article is about the park in San Francisco. For the US National Recreation Area just north of there, see Golden Gate National Recreation Area. Golden Gate Park, located in San Francisco, California, is a large urban park. At 1017 acres (4.1 km², 1. with a guy in a Navy uniform?" "Oh my God, it's Ray," Bledsoe responded. She doesn't remember what she said next - but she had to sit down. They talked for 45 minutes, setting off a chain of calls and letters. They didn't make arrangements to meet again, however, until Bledsoe's daughter, Katie Shankle, 23, and her mates on the Chapman College softball team went to Storm Lake, Iowa Storm Lake is a city in Buena Vista County, Iowa, United States. The population was 10,076 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Buena Vista CountyGR6. Storm Lake is home to Buena Vista University, originally Buena Vista College. , for the NCAA NCAA abbr. National Collegiate Athletic Association Division 3 finals the following May. Storm Lake is a 90-minute drive from Sioux Falls, S.D., Rhubottom's home. On the advice of his sister-in-law, he stopped to buy Bledsoe a book, "The Bridges of Madison County." He was waiting when she appeared with a van full of ballplayers. They had exchanged pictures by mail and recognized each other instantly. After listening to Bledsoe and Rhubottom talk for awhile, Bledsoe's daughter reported to her teammates that "my mother's in love," and the team began taking bets on when the romance would heat up. Now, he's sold his business and moved lock, stock and racing car to Oceanside. Bledsoe will walk down the aisle - or in this case, across the lawn of her sister Janet's home - in a traditional long white wedding dress and veil. Her sister is local attorney Janet Bledsoe Lacy. And the honeymoon? To San Francisco, of course. CAPTION(S): PHOTO Photo (1) Ray Rhubottom and Marva Bledsoe set the wedding for this weekend in Oceanside. (2) In 1962, the new couple posed for this photo in San Francisco. Associated Press |
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