My Life as a Military Wife

By Judy Wagoner

Here I am with my one year old daughter standing on the street in a foreign country not sure what to do or where to go. I can’t speak the language so I can’t commutate with the people here. This is the beginning of a whole new life for me.
_____________________________
I am a Grandmother and just recently became a Great- Grandmother to an adorable little boy. My life has been good despite the ups and downs. This is what God had planned for me and my kids and it’s been a good life.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Jun 4, 2024
• ISBN: 9798369422410

Book preview

My Life as a

Military Wife

JUDY WAGONER

Copyright © 2024 by Judy Wagoner.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Rev. date: 06/04/2024

Xlibris

844-714-8691

www.Xlibris.com

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CONTENTS

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Chapter 32

Chapter 33

Chapter 34

Chapter 35

Chapter 36

Chapter 37

Chapter 38

Chapter 39

Chapter 40

Chapter 41

Chapter 42

Chapter 43

Chapter 44

Chapter 45

Chapter 46

Chapter 47

Chapter 48

Chapter 49

Chapter 50

Chapter 51

Chapter 52

Chapter 53

Chapter 54

Chapter 55

Chapter 56

Chapter 57

Chapter 58

Chapter 59

Chapter 60

Chapter 61

Chapter 62

Chapter 63

Dedicated to my children,

Gina and Erick

without them there would

be no story.

I would like to thank my husband, Wayne, for putting up with all the long hours I have spent in front of my computer. My friend, Kathy Clark for helping me to do the proofreading for this book and my grandson, Ethan for helping me with the photos. Love you all.

Here I am with my one year old daughter standing on the street in a foreign country not sure what to do or where to go. I can’t speak the language so I can’t commutate with the people here. This is the beginning of a whole new life for me.

CHAPTER 1

T HIS IS MY STORY OF becoming a wife, Mother, and a soldier’s wife living in a different country and all that comes along with that. Life has been a surprise for me with every step I take. The ups and downs, leaving my family and friends behind to embark on a new life. This is the beginning of a new adven ture.

I feel like I finally have control of my life. No more school and all that goes with being in High School. No more homework and no more curfews, unless you are still living at home with your parents, which I am. I’ve graduated from High School, I have a full time job and all’s right with the world. The job I have is a long distance telephone operator for Indiana Bell Phone Company in my hometown. This is my first real job. As a teenager I babysat for different families in my neighborhood, but this is a real job, 9 to 5 and every week a paycheck. Much more money to make and like all adults I get to pay taxes. I made friends my age at the phone company. Two other girls started at the same time as myself. They also have just graduated from high school, but from a different high school than mine. Donna, Ellen and myself. We hit it off from our first day working. With finding new friends I also meet my future mother-in-law. I didn’t know it in the beginning but I was also working alongside my future mother-in-law, Ruth.

CHAPTER 2

E LLEN HAD DECIDED TO GET a kitten from my future mother-in-law whose cat had just had a litter of kittens. One evening I went with Ellen to see about her getting a kitten at Ruth’s. While we were there Ruth’s son came in and we were introduced to him. His name is Dennis and he is attending Purdue University. We said hello and then soon after that we left, but without a kitten. I found out later, much later, that Ruth was hoping Dennis would be interested in my friend, Ellen. He was interested in one of us but it wasn’t E llen.

The next day I was at the drugstore, where my mother worked at that time, talking with her as I would normally do. As we were talking a man came in and I asked my mom who’s that man that just came in? Mom had worked at the corner drug store for years and knew just about everyone in the neighborhood. She had no ideal who the guy was. I do remember thinking what a good looking guy. The next thing I knew he came up to me and said your dad said you would be here. Gee, thanks dad. It was Dennis from the other day at Ruth’s house. He told me that after we left his mothers house he had asked his mother what she knew about me. I’m guessing it was good because he came looking for me.

We went out that following weekend. After about a month of dating he said to me next Christmas I hope to be married. I thought this was it’s not you it’s me type of speech but to my surprise it wasn’t. He proposed to me a few months later and of course I said yes.

CHAPTER 3

W E PLANNED TO GET MARRIED the following September. Fifty plus years ago it didn’t take a year or longer to plan a wedding. Cake and punch was the norm for weddings back then. We did have family and friends back at my parents house for food and drinks which lasted late into the night. One of my fondest memories of that afternoon, besides marrying Dennis, was dancing with my grandfather in my parents living room. I cherish that moment still after 50 plus y ears.

After the wedding, reception and the party at my parents house we left for our honeymoon late that afternoon. Of course my brothers decided to pull a prank on us and smeared Limburger cheese on the engine of our car. That

Wonderful smell followed us our whole Honeymoon. Thanks Greg! Before we made it to the hotel for the night we stopped off in Illinois to see my grandmother. She was not able to make it to the wedding because of her being in the hospital. She was so surprised that we stopped to see her. While we were there she asked me to get her nurse. I thought something was wrong and maybe she was going to die. What a way to remember your grandmother dying on your wedding day. (Grandma lived another seven years). For what seemed like forever the nurse finally came in to see what grandma needed. Much to our relief she wanted to tell the nurse that we had just gotten married today. How sweet of her. After a short visit with grandma we continued with our honeymoon.

CHAPTER 4

I HAD LIVED IN INDIANA ALL of my 20 years and little did I know that in three years I would be living in another country, Germany. I had only left the state of Indiana twice, give or take. Once to Tennessee to see my mother’s family and another times to Illinois to visit my grandparents, Aunts, Uncles, and cousins. And now a third time on our honeymoon. On our honeymoon we traveled to Illinois, (to see my grandmother) Iowa, Nebraska, and South Dakota. We stopped in Iowa to see my new husband’s grandparents. They were also not able to attend our wedding because of their age and the long distance to Indiana. Much to my surprise when we pulled up to the grandparent house in Iowa I saw a sign in the front yard reading, funeral home (can’t remember the name). I said to Dennis your grandparents live in a funeral home? My husband tells me yes with a silly grin on his face. He tells me he told me before we left and he did, which he had but I thought he was joking. Guess he wasn’t. Dennis tells me that this is a very small town and few people have their funeral here, but yes, they live in the funeral home and have for many years. Once a person passes away they may bring the body to the grandparents funeral home to waite for transport to bigger funeral home in another city. After meeting his grandparent Dennis asked me if I would like to go to the basement and look at the caskets. That was a big fat NO". This is not a good start to our married life.

After spending the night with his Grandparents at the funeral home we headed off to continue our honeymoon. The rest of the trip was great seeing places I have never seen before. The BadLands, Mount Rushmore, and the Corn Palace in Iowa. A Corn palace you ask? Yes, a Corn Palace. It was quite interesting. The whole front of the palace is make up of corn. Interesting.

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CHAPTER 5

A FTER A WEEK-LONG HONEYMOON WE return to Indiana to start our life together as husband and wife. Dennis is still in college and I continue working to help support ourselves. We rented a one bedroom apartment that was in an older Victorian style house with a fireplace in the living room and a huge kitchen but only two cabinets in it. That didn’t make sense to me, only two cabinets? The following spring we were given access to the backyard so we planted