Runaway Lovers

I don't have the pictures here which would go with this story, but I'll get them and post later. They're at Dad's.

So, the lovebirds fell hard and fast for each other. But let's revisit the time ... late -50', early 1960's and prejudice ran pretty deep in the South. They had to "sneak" to see each other. Once, Dad invited Mom to a dance. As I understand, it was at a "the USO Hall" and seemed perfectly legitimate ... Mom even got her mother to drive her downtown to attend it. Only when she showed up, there was a single record player and a love-crazy Filipino who just couldn't get enough of that John's Island girl.

I understand they "dated" (we call it 'parking') in graveyards late at night and watched planes land at the airport, but really didn't go anywhere publicly. Why would they? Jessie's father SHOT at young Teddy ... he really did everything he could to thwart the love affair ... even to the extent of telling Mom that the Filipino men didn't have normal anatomies ... they had TAILS!!! He said they were part monkey! My father's response? Probably to give 'evidence' to the contrary ... (hey, Mom told me and I'm not on Springer, so don't blink so hard!)

Well, by the winter they were hot and heavy and wanted to marry on Valentines Day. It wasn't happening. They had to concoct a grand escape. Dad had to take a test the morning of the escape. He put Jessie on a plane to Norfolk, Virginia under the name "Mary Ferguson" and he took a different plane later under the name "Simon Bernstein" (really? yes, really ... not an orthodox looking hassidic Jew, I'm sure).

They knew that Mom's brother had been sent to "stop" the wedding (I believe he was packin' heat). They were being chased down and were on the run.

They traveled by car and went to a justice of the peace in North Carolina and the deed was done on February 15th, 1960. Mom got to feeling guilty that she wasn't married by a priest, so they went to a friend of Dad's (Dr. Pilau) who worked in a nuthouse (that's what Dad calls the mental health facility) in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania and redid the vows in the chapel of the "facility" on February 27th. And THAT is why they celebrated TWO wedding anniversaries every single year.

Mom's father got wind and called "a friend" (ya'll remember Mendel Rivers?) and pulled a few political strings. Anyway, Dad's next assignment was to AFRICA for 13 months, so they were forced to be separated and Jessie went home to her parents. During those 13 months, Jessie convinced them that nothing would keep them apart. He wrote her and sent pictures. She wrote back and their love got even stronger. By the time he came back to the states, her parents had softened considerably.
Jessie quickly became pregnant and by the time little Prisca JANE (named after Dad's mom, Prisca and Mom's mother, Minna Jane) came to be, it was all about the love. "Two Different Worlds" was their love song and two very different worlds had now melded into one. Dad became a fishing/shrimping buddy with Mr. Peloquin and the story goes that when the car would pull up to the beach apartments the Peloquin family ran on Folly Beach (Pelican Arms Apartments), Mr. Peloquin would pull that little brown baby right out of the window! (no carseats, my friend) and he affectionately called her "his little Riceland Rice, bery nice girl."

Times were different, but love is strong. When it's that strong, there is simply no denying it.