Vern Mall

          One day in 1955, just a few days after Christmas, my friend Rita, called to ask if I would go on a blind date.  I said no.  She begged and begged because there was a guy who worked in her office at Caterpillar who wanted to take her out but he didn't have a car but his roommate did.  I didn't date much and the blind dates I had been on where not the best.  But after much persuasion - Rita was in to wheedling - I said yes.  We were going to see the movie, Vera Cruz.  So on January 14, 1955, Rita and Don and Vern and I went on our first date in Vern's 1954, light turquoise, Ford Fairlane.  When he came to the door, he was about four inches shorter than me and I remember thinking, "Well this is a one time thing".  The movie was terrible, a Western, just not a good story - it shows up now and again on TCM and the movie has not gotten any better.  Afterwards we went to the Steak and Shake Drive-In on North Adams for hot chocolate.
       Maybe it was the fact that I knew this 'romance' wasn't going anywhere (and he said later he felt the same) but we talked about a lot of things and were very comfortable with each other.  He took me home and I thought well that was that.  Imagine my surprise when he called again the next afternoon - Saturday.  "What are you doing tonight?", He asked.  "Going to Confession," I answered.  "How 'bout if I go too?" He replied. (when I told this story several years ago to some of our daughters, their response was "what did you do on the first date that you had to go to Confession on the second?")  Back in the day, Most of us went to Confession at least every two weeks for the Grace and just because that's what we did.   And after going to Church we went to Hunts on Farmington Road.  That's how it started and a year later on January 14, 1956 we were married.  And our marriage lasted 51 years and 51 weeks and a few days.  Today at 11:00 A.M. will be the fourth anniversary of his death.
       I loved him, I tolerated him, I thought he was one of the wisest men I knew, I could get so angry at him I wanted to annihilate him.  He could do anything and I relished how knowledgeable he was about Nature and the Outdoors.  He was a stubborn Italian/German mix who loved his family firmly.  He was one of the most Catholic people ever Baptized.  Everything was pretty black and white, only as he got older did life take on more gray hues except where his daughters were concerned and to him they always shone in bright colors.  And he loved his grandchildren so that to Vern they were virtually rainbows.
       One of the hourly men who worked for him at Caterpillar told me one time that Vern treated everyone fairly, as if he remembered what it was like to 'work on the line'.  He was  fair, and most people you ask will tell you that.  He was well respected  by most and loved by many.
       Do I miss him? Yes.  Do I wish he were still alive? Only if he could be able to play golf, go fishing, do the Parish prayer chain,  Chair the Buildings and Grounds Committee, putter around on his John Deere, work in the yard and go traveling.   And he knew at the last that that wasn't going to happen anymore.
       The picture shows him with a perfect Euchre hand dealt him in a game by grandson, Jonathan.  I, too, was dealt a pretty good hand fifty-seven years ago when I met Vern Mall.