Dale wished his wife, Ann, a Happy Anniversary on December 27, 2020: (When December 27, 2022 rolls around they will celebrate 65 great years of marriage). Here is the blog he wrote: “SIXTY THREE YEARS AND PRAYING!”
It was early 1957 when a college friend, Bob Highgate, and I decided to go to Houston, a place we had never seen. We were waiting for the next semester at Southwestern Baptist Seminary in Ft Worth to begin. Neither of us had any idea what God had in mind for us. We had become friends at Ouachita Baptist College. I was back from two years military service in Mainz, Germany. My primary interest was in church music. I knew many of our Baptist churches only had small or no staffs. I prepared to do education/youth/music ministry.
On our first Sunday Bob and I visited First Baptist, Houston. It was downtown, just a few blocks from a school training nurses. Some of those girls made this down-town church their own They had a large adult choir and IN that group was one I found captivating. She was Agnes Ann Maurer from Pharr, Texas. I joined the choir, allowing me to see and come to know more about this beautiful girl from the Rio Grande Valley. The minister of music, Lee Roy Till, decided to pair us up in some way. We became a duet. Soon we were singing at jail services in downtown Houston. It was challenging but we didn’t mind. It put us together. Love took root and God did the rest. By early summer were were engaged. I went off to Southwestern Theological Seminary and Ann worked to finish her RN training by December of 57. Our wedding date became December 27. The place would be Pharr, Texas, at Ann’s home church. Since my home town was Ft Smith, Arkansas, it meant I would be EIGHT HUNDRED SIXTY TWO MILES from home! My parents could not make that trip. My brother Powell came. December 27 of 1957 the Pharr First Baptist Church filled with friends of Ann and her family. I was overwhelmed by their love and acceptance. The journey for us as husband and wife, began. Following those festivities we drove the short distance to McAllen where reservations awaited . The next day we headed my 52′ Chevrolet toward Mexico where we would stay in Monterrey, and visit Saltillo. Thus it all began. Little did either of us imagine that the journey would last for sixty-three years. Churches in Fort Worth, Lufkin, Center, Wharton, Taft, and Rockport, allowed us to minister and grow in serving. I had no interest or call to anything more. God changed all that. Ann played the organ or piano and also helped me with choirs. All the while she was working in a hospital or clinic. She helped guide and encourage me more than I could ever tell you.
So, here we are this morning in Rockport, pinned in by a deadly virus, but finding courage to keep going. I am eighty-eight and she is younger! Much!
“Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure…keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said: “Never will I leave you. Never will I forsake you.” Hebrews 12:4-6.
(His brother, Powell, commented on Dale’s words: “And He hasn’t.”)
Dale and Ann in 2015Theme for this week: Dale Pogue’s Birthday
1. Monday June 13 Dale Pogue’s Birthday and A Poem
2. Tuesday June 14 Poems from Dale Pogue
3. Wednesday June 15 A Blog from Dale-A Little History
4. Thursday June 16 Dale to Ann on Anniversary
5. Friday June 17 Dale Pogue’s Poem About Noah