The Courtship

I was married for a very short period of time to another man. When I decided to divorce him, I thought it was time to get my own place and not keep staying at my parents. I was able to get a darling duplex in North Austin. The girl that moved in next door became a very good friend of mine. Her name was Ann Lemon. I will never forget her for many things. One was that she got me through a very difficult time. Even when you know you've made a mistake, divorce is not easy. Ann helped me get back on my feet and out socializing again. We had a lot of fun. At that time she was working for Rippy Surveying Company and I was working at Texas Instruments. It turned out that on December 16, 1972, Rippy Surveying Company was going to have their one and only Christmas party. Ann decided that since the office manager at her company didn't have a date that we should go together. Thus she arranged a blind date with me and the Office Manager of Rippy Surveying Company. His name was Patrick Herbert Patterson and he turned out to be your grandfather. Of course I didn't know that at the time.

When I met him he had many things against him. Even though I was divorced, I did not date divorced men. There was always something wrong with them. I also did not care for facial hair and this man had a mustache. Yuck! Then I found out the biggest thing against him and that was, not only was he divorced, but he had a little boy and he had custody of him. Nope there was no way I would get involved with that.

But I have to admit we had a great time at the party. I met some very nice people and we danced and danced to country music. He was a smooth dancer and definitely a smooth talker. He was a good kisser too, but you don't need to know that. I told Ann after that date that he would be a great friend but it could never be more than that.

A few days later he called me and we talked on the phone for almost 4 hours. I knew he was going to be with his little boy in Bastrop for the holidays so we planned to go out the Friday after New Years which would be January 5, 1973. Unfortunately, just before our date he called to say he couldn't make it. It seems his Grandmother lived next door to him and while he was at work she had snuck into his side of the duplex and take a shower. The problem was she couldn't turn the water off and flooded his half of the duplex. So he had to stay there and mop up. That date become a great joke between us as the date he stood me up. But actually we talked on the phone another 4 or more hours while he cleaned. So we knew each other pretty well before our next date. Guess that's when he hooked me.

We had a wonderful time dating and getting to know each other. Since I lived close to where he worked, he would stop by on his way home. We were comfortable with each other from the beginning. When I met his son Tom, there was nothing ackward. Tom accepted me right from the beginning. In fact, he always thought his father married me because he asked me to be his new mommy. That was a little ackward because we had never even talked about getting married when this happened. But little kids can do that to you.

Around the first part of November, 1973, Patrick and I were sitting on the front porch in front of his duplex on West 6th Street. He was strumming the guitar and I was just sitting back enjoying the beautiful weather, when Patrick casually suggested we get married. I have to admit I was shocked. We started working on when it would be the most convenient for us and decided on December 21, 1973. When Patrick asked my father for permission to marry me, my father said it was about time.

I will never forget how much fun we had getting our rings. I finally got my engagement ring on November 23. We wanted it to be such a beautiful time. As Patrick got on one knee to ask me to marry him so he could put the ring on my finger, Tom was pulling on my shirt trying to get me to come see something out the window. I should have known this was an omen of my life to come.

We were married on December 21, 1973 at the courthouse in Austin, Texas. We went back to the duplex on West 6th and then went to my parent's house in the evening and drank champagne as my father greeted his "new son" into the family. This meant a lot to Patrick because he never had a father and he admired my father so much. That Friday, Saturday and Sunday were all ours. We walked the hike and bike trails around Austin. Patrick showed me his childhood hang outs and we talked. You couldn't have asked for a better honeymoon. It was perfect for us. Patrick was not only my husband, but as I had told Ann earlier, he turned out to be my best friend.