The SA was my life...

Part 3



(conclusion)

Well, on Monday morning I took the train back into Manhattan and went to the New York Telephone Company and applied for a job. It was there, by fate, that I met my future husband. He was in the same building waiting for his mandatory military conscript physical for the Vietnam War but failed it. We began chatting while at the coffee wagon. I had no intention of getting married; I wanted to be free. He shared that his father was a New York City Police Officer and I was impressed. And I thought, what a coincidence that two people came together in a city of 8 million people and immediately “hit it off”. Did God have His hand in this?

We began dating and some months later we were married, in June 1970 after just two weeks of planning our wedding. My husband to be, was a devout Catholic and I felt compelled to sign a form agreeing to raise our children in the Catholic faith and tradition (the trombone and timbrels were laid to the side). The Priest informed us that the only date available on his schedule to perform the ceremony was Friday, June 12th. It seemed not so incidental that on the very same date, exactly five years earlier, I had signed another covenant, as a commissioned Salvation Army Officer.

I've been a homemaker now for 37 years and as I look back on my life and I would have made the very same decision. I was dedicated to the mission of the army but I didn't have the encouragement, support, and opportunities others enjoyed. In my first appointment, the CO's went on vacation and the Major said simply, “You do Vacation Bible School.: Although I had some help we soon had more than 100 children registered. The Major, rather than complementing me complained about all the noise and the “type” of children coming to his corps. I was flabbergasted and hurt, and asked for an immediate change of appointments.

In my next appointment (New York) while returning from the store in my Salvation Army uniform I was mugged. Single officers did not have use of a vehicle for personal use. And, as a single officer I was provided just one dormitory type room in which to live with the bathroom one floor up! Couples had a much better life. In one of my social service appointments we were served dinner according to rank. Of course, being the new Lieutenant I got served last.

In another appointment I was working in an unwed mothers home and one of the girls got out of hand and verbally attacked me. I simply couldn't handle it.... we were in temporary Quarters till the new building was constructed and with no Certificate of Occupancy. I was alone on the fourth floor with the girls with no backup or support. The Brigadier lived on the second floor, distant from the “real” action, and the other senior officer comfortably settled in an adjacent building. It was another instance of little to no support… There is more, but it’s all water under the bridge now, but I came away damaged; psychologically and spiritually. It made me question the validity of my “call”. I realize now that it was my love for the army and its mission that prompted me to remain “true” for as long as I did.

My husband and I have been married 37 years. We've put two daughters through college. The youngest is in graduate school studying for her Masters and Doctorate in Psychology. Clearly, God has been with me all these years. He is still blessing me for all I did growing up in the army; knocking on doors as a young child handing out War Crys and asking for donations, kettles and open air meetings. I did it for His army and His Kingdom. Although I felt the army had “left me by the side of the road”, I knew then and now that God blessed me and was watching over my family and me.

As my life comes to its winter years , and I look back , I have no regrets. As I sit in the sun on my front porch after I've completed my housework or my shopping, I meditate and say my prayers, I say to myself and God. “I did the best I could as Your servant, Lord… Jesus, I used the experience of those early corps’ years and the Training School throughout my life, raising my three children taking care of my home and my husband."

I am more grateful the older I get for my upbringing in The Salvation Army. I thank God for that influence on my life. I told my youngest daughter that I went off to College at age sixteen and that I went to a Military School. She looked at me with confusion; then I proudly showed her my Session Year Book.

When the time came for me to go out and seek a job, once the children were grown, the arthritis set in; probably from all those street corners I stood on in the cold, during open-air meetings, and playing my Christmas Carols on my cornet or trombone during the kettle season.

Everyday is a challenge to get through, but I trust in and rely on God. Whatever is ahead, this Cadet is prepared and I draw strength from my favorite scripture verse, Phillipians 4:11, “Not that I speak in respect of want, for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content."

USA East
(name on file)