Carl’s life would never be the same after he met a sweet farm girl from Huntington, Indiana. While Carl was living with Aunt Hazel and Uncle Jim he was taking guitar lessons from a man at his church. He was on his way to the lesson when he remembered he had forgotten his guitar pick. When he arrived back at the house who was there visiting with her Aunt Hazel – yep, Donna Mae Broyles. Carl was immediately smitten.
His thoughts of her at that first meeting were, she was cute, had a pretty smile and she had nice lips.
After Carl had met Donna, he was very interested in getting to know her more. Aunt Hazel would get her eggs from Donna’s parents farm. (Henry and Aleatha Broyles). Carl would relentlessly ask Aunt Hazel if she needed to get more eggs so he might have a chance to talk with Donna again.
It didn’t take very long before he asked her out on a date. They went to Ft Wayne to a movie for their first date. He told me she wasn’t sure if she wanted to go out with him. I think she was playing hard to get. When I asked him what his best date with Donna was, he said the very first date. I’d say he was a pretty happy fella.
Some other dates that he and Donna went on were walking around the park, playing cards with her cousins, going out to eat. They usually went out around once a week and a lot of times they just hung out on the farm.
I think Carl didn’t really mind hanging out on the farm. He recalls one time they were up in the hay mount “making out” when they heard Henry, Donna’s dad clear his throat. He was climbing the ladder and knew what they were up to and gave them a little warning that he was on his way up.
They had been dating for around a year when he popped the question. He was ready to make a commitment with her for the rest of his life.
January 1959, Carl had driven Donna home after a date. They were sitting in his car (‘52 Dodge) in her parent’s driveway when he asked her to be is wife.
He paid $100 for both of their rings. This was a stretch for him since he had to make payments.
They were married at Luncreek Church of the Brethern on December 6, 1959. He thinks there were around 50 people there. I remember asking my mom what colors they used for their wedding. She said blue. I always thought that was so funny since everything now is a very specific shade of a certain color. Their color was simply blue and I’m sure it was beautiful! Blue was a favorite color for both of them.
One question I asked Dad was what is the first thing that springs to your mind when you think back to your wedding day with Donna. He smiled and said “Oh man, that was a good day!”
After their simple wedding ceremony they drove to Bluffton to get professional pictures taken at the photographer’s studio. It had began to snow during this time and the roads were getting dangerous to drive on. They stopped at the first motel they could find after they left Bluffton. They went to Mackinaw Island in Michigan for their honeymoon.
Their first home was a 8 x 37 trailer house. It had a bedroom on each end. It sat in the Wallace Trailer Court. They paid $1,800 for the trailer, the lot rent was $10 a month plus utilities.
Carl worked at Lock Steel Chain and made $1.50 an hour. Donna worked at a factory making $1.25 an hour. While working, some of Donna’s co-workers always asked her what she had fixed for dinner the night before. As the week went on Donna would tell them what she had made and leftover peas was always a part of the meal. By the end of the week one co-worker said “Donna, maybe you ought to throw out those peas”.
2FaithfulSisters 