Mamma was born Muriel Kirkpatrick in 1948 in the great city of New Orleans. She went to Catholic School all her life and grew up in the Irish Channel of New Olreans. She went to St. Alphonsus. She graduated in 1965-6 and went to Louisiana State University, Eastern Washington, and Wsu for grad school.
Dad was born William Hebert in 1958 in Couer d' Alane. He, also went to Catholic school most of his life. Graduated in 1975, and attended North Idaho college and University of Idaho.
My moms earliest memory is one of great depth, love, and beauty. Her dad died when she was two, so she didn't remember much of him, but her most vivid memory of him was one of her mom and her dad getting ready for a party. Maurice (Her dad) was putting on his tie behind her mom (Muriel), who was in her slip, putting on her makeup, and my mom says she can remember thinking, "They're so cute."...and she was only two.
My dads earliest memory is one of his dad, as well. He was eating porridge in his high chair, and kept flicking it at Grandpa Tommy. Tommy finally got so fed up with it, he took the bowl of mush and put it on top of 16 month old dad's head, and he says he can still remember the smell, and the image of his dad smiling smugly with his arms crossed as porridge ran down dad's head.
In the time it took my dad to reach college from high school, my mom lived a good portion of her professional life. She joined the Air Force, was stationed in Texas, and then came up to Spokane, where she was stationed at Fare Child as an officer. After her Air Force career, she decided to put her Masters in Psychology to use after being a preschool teacher, and a counselor...so she took a job as a Psychology professor at, you guessed it...North Idaho College. This is where my parents met.
In their spare time at school my dad was in the Marching Band, and my mom was a cheerleader advisor if I remember correctly. While Dad was a mere 22 when he met my mom, mom was a mature, sophisticated 32 year old who apparently took no crap in the classroom, and just today Dad was reminiscing about how she could put any crack up, show off, or student-sleeping-in-class in their place.
Today I asked dad what his favorite memory of Mom was when she was his teacher; he said it was when she'd draw Elmo and Alfonzo, and all these random, made up characters on the board for her examples in psych, so that it'd be clear she wasn't using any students name. My favorite story of theirs was one fateful day when mom was giving the class a test. The question was "What is Marasmus?" The answer is something along the lines of poor nutrition, but dad couldn't remember, and because he knew mom'd rather have you put something random in a line instead of leaving it blank, dad put down the first thing he thought of. Gathering his knowledge of moms southern roots, he wrote down that Marasmus was a poor, southern black child that had a speech impediment. He got half credit on account of the cleverness, and the fact that he did not leave it blank...That's love.
Dad and mom eventually became friends, but one of mom's friends thought dad was gay. She backed this up with one point: Dad use to iron his jeans, and he liked to be neat. THEREFORE, he was gay. Didn't phase mom, she knew better. He tricked her into their first few lunch dates. She just thought he was a really sweet student, but after the second or third time she figured out his crush.
Their first date is the best date I've ever heard of(course, I'm somewhat bias seeing as how it's my parents, but, anyways, I digress). Dad was living in Lewiston at the time, and mom was up in Spokane, so for their first date dad drove up to Spokane to get mamma, then down to Pullman for a concert. Dad recollects the best thing mom said on the date and that was, "Are you planning on feeding me??" He said he'd never heard a woman phrase something so sweetly, yet bluntly, and it made his entire night that she was so straight forward and innocent with her question..and yes, he bought her dinner.
After the concert, he drove her back to Spokane from Pullman, and then drove from Spokane all the way home to Lewiston. The entire date was a grand total of 298 miles of driving on dads part. Awesome.
Dad remembers telling his friends when he was 24, "Just watch, by this time next year, I'll be married." All his friends thought he was full of it, but he was right! Mom and Dad got married in the July of 1983. Dad was 25, and mom was 34.
What are the odds that a southern bell marries a small town boy 9 years younger than her? I guess I decided to write this little account to show you that you never know what can happen, where you'll end up, and where you'll find the love of your life.
