“We’d had a blind date with his sister. ‘Oh, you’ve got to meet my brother Bobby,’ she said. ‘He’s so cute.’ And I said, ‘Well he’s a little older you know.’ But she said, ‘I’ll fix it up. He’s looked at you come and go when you stay all night with me and he’d like to have a date with you.’ That was 1941. Then we had to wait.”
Bob enlisted in the Army and served from 1941 until the war ended in 1945.
“I was 18 when he got home off the ship, and we married immediately. The courtship had all been by letters. I have 317 letters from him under the bed. Of course, everything had to be very secret because you didn’t want anyone to know where your fella was stationed.”
Mary is 88 now. Bob is 95.
“Part of my responsibility is to keep an eagle eye on the man I’ve been married to for 70 years.”
Meals on Wheels makes it possible for Mary and Bob to stay in their home, where they want to be. For many Meals on Wheels recipients, the volunteer who delivers their meal may be the only person they see that day. Volunteers provide more than food. They provide a watchful eye on the health and safety of the seniors they serve. One in six seniors struggles with hunger. In Lane County, Meals on Wheels is administered by Senior and Disabled Services and FOOD for Lane County.