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Show ADVERTISEMENT a new place, but as chance would have it, Kate's parents were visiting. Her mom set us up, and she was not too happy about that. She was kind of cool toward me, but she got over it. Didn't you, Katie Mae?" he said, turning to face his bride with a sly smile. You know I did, Brown," she says. I started feeling different about him. I could see all these traits in him that were good. He was dependable and he was she recalls. The Browns maintain an active lifestyle. In her mind, Kate says, she compared him to the rough-hew- n boys in her hometown about 50 miles east of Nashville, and the city slicker held up pretty well. I thought he was a good find. However, that doesnt mean Jim was in a tush to arrive at the marriage altar, she notes. She pats his knee, while he laughs sheepishly. In his defense, Jim says, the war was a constant distraction from things matrimonial. Although he had received a deferment from the draft because he got hired on at a Nashville aircraft manufacturer making the Vultee Vengeance a request for an extension was denied. told me I was too ripe for service," he says. boss My dive-bomb- So Jim beat Uncle Sam to the punch and entered the Navy, with the goal of becoming a pilot. He later trained in New England, learning to fly in open cockpit trainers during the dead of winter. We landed those things on skis, not wheels, he remembers. Meanwhile, Kate anxiously awaited his return to Tennessee. I was ready to be married, she says. And I was ready to put it off awhile," Jim chimes in, finishing her thought, something the longtime couple frequently do as the other speaks. In this case, the woman won the war of reason. She gave me what amounted to an ultimatum, and I wasnt about to lose her, so we got married on July 27, 1944, he recalls, adding he was never sent to the war. This summer will be 58 years," she adds. LocSdaj out for each cAsr What has kept them together during the ensuing decades, these veterans of holy matrimony advise, was not solely love, but love coupled with respect. Love will only take you part way, Kate says. But when you respect and love someone, there aren't as many obstacles. We learned the hard way, because I was a pouter. And I was a yeller, Jim admits. So those early days were interesting, if you could call them that, she with a says laugh. An important lesson learned was this: They could not change their spouse, nor was it their job to do so. But we could change ourselves. That makes the difference, when you're willing to sacrifice your feelings in exchange for looking out for the other person," Kate noces. Another immutable truth for these lovebirds of the D" word. No matwas the ter how frustrated one got with the other, neither would speak of divorce. Their abiding faith that God would see them through any difficult situation is an important component of their marriage's long tenure. We pray a lot together and God honors that," Jim says. After he retired nearly 20 years ago following a three-decacareer in and the extended second an sales, engineering couple began honeymoon, traveling the continents. They have been to Switzerland, Tahiti, Alaska, and Canada, among other places. The couple walks several miles a day, a habit born of Kate's interest in running. She started jogging in her 50s as a way to stay fit and has an attic full" of trophies won at various races. His pet name for her, Katie Mae, evolved when he was shouting an encouraging word to her at the finish line one day. Katie Mae sounded better and the crowd caught on and was shouting it with de me," Jim chuckles. Arthritis forced her to stop running, but the active woman still likes to walk. But I cant keep up with her. Shes too fast for me, Jim says. To their union the Browns had two children, James Brown III and Elaine Harris, who have blessed them with two grandchildren, and that generation has given the couple two In addition, they maintain several with students friendships foreign exchange adopted over the years. Reminders of all of them can be found in photographs on walls and cables throughout their cozy home. Occupying the most prominent visual position, above the mantel in their living room, is a large lithograph of Union Station, the busy train depot where on a hot July day nearly 60 years ago, a pretty woman in a yellow summer dress caught the eye of a handsome young man. And a love to last a lifetime was bom. ijStephen Leon Alligood lives and writes in Tennessee, when he Bertie have been married for 26 years. and wife American Profile Page 7 |