Page 35 - Gary's Book - Final Copy 7.9.2017_Active

My Gal Sue

I met Donna “Sue” Green, the love of my life, in 1959 in Fayette, Missouri, at
Central Methodist College, which, as I mentioned, is now a private Methodist

university. I had known several Donnas before, and they were all red heads and
pushy. Lucky for me, she had already changed her name to Sue. We dated for four
years, except for being apart for about six months because of Grace’s interference,
before getting married at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Quincy, Illinois, on July
27, 1963. (And no, we did not live together before we married.) We exchanged

wedding rings that day symbolizing our unending love for one another – and it has
been everlasting. Marriage binds a woman and a man into one flesh, but the
problem is that after 54 years, we still have not decided which one we desire to be.
[Chuckle, chuckle!]

After our marriage ceremony, we gathered at her parents’ home for food and
friendship with family and college friends and later departed for Treasure Island,

Florida, to begin our honeymoon. Our first stop was to spend the night at the
Holiday Inn in Effingham, Illinois, where, as I remember, we had a late dinner – a
delicious barbequed rack of ribs. That evening after consummating our vows, Sue
told me she loved it but quickly restated, “I mean I love you.” [Chuckle, chuckle!]

Sue came from a family that lived the Ozzie and Harriet Nelson home model with

“normal” parent and child friction and brother and sister conflicts. Everybody
loved each other. She had phenomenal parents and grandparents. I’m sorry that she
had to bear the hurt of experiencing her dad having emphysema for the last ten
years of his life and her mother being plagued with Alzheimer’s.

Being a wife is an enormous commitment; she is a lady in the living room, a chef
in the kitchen and a lover in the bedroom, which cannot be said for many wives. I

only need to view the national statistics on divorce to support my position. I tell
her all the time that two out of three is not bad; I enjoy keeping her guessing about
which two. [Chuckle, chuckle!]

The cycle of our relationship has evolved from her being my date and girlfriend to
being my bride, partner, spouse, companion, better half, lover and mother of my

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