Jack and Ann Carver celebrate 65 years of marriage
Ann Carver and I will celebrate 65 years of marriage on Wednesday. It all started in Dayton, Ohio, during World War II.
The war started on Dec. 7, 1941. I was in high school and quickly left to join the Navy, serving as a pharmacists’ mate on the hospital ship USS Relief.
I was engaged to a girl back home. She sent me one of those “Dear John” letters stating that she had married another person. My mother knew Ann Weinert’s mother, and she asked that her daughter write to me because I was lonely, so she did.
Ann was 17 years old and a senior in high school who received all A’s and had never missed a day of school in 11-plus years. Our letters were very friendly and inviting. When I came home on leave in November 1944 (the only time I got back to the United States), we met and fell in love.
We decided to get married on Thanksgiving week. Somehow, we managed to get everything ready in less than a week to have a beautiful church wedding at the little Baptist church where Ann was a member.
A few days after the wedding, I returned to the West Coast where my ship was in dry dock getting repaired. Ann (the student who had never missed a day of school) came out to visit me. I returned to the war in the South Pacific, and she returned to school— and then learned she was pregnant.
After Japan surrendered in August 1945, I got back to the United States along with 8 million or 9 million other servicemen and had a hard time getting transportation back to the East Coast to be discharged.
After a real struggle, I managed to get home five minutes after our first son was born on Oct. 20, 1945 (the day of my official discharge from the Navy).
I worked two jobs and went to school three nights a week, receiving an associate’s degree and then my bachelor’s degree. By then, we had two more beautiful children, a daughter and another son.
Ann stayed home with our children and took up her childhood talent of painting. She also worked some years in banking. She then helped start The Gallery on Main Street in Canandaigua, becoming the largest seller in its 15 years of business. She was a very popular artist in this area.
Me, I worked and traveled extensively in the new industry of “O” ring seals. I also spent 25 years volunteering with the Boy Scouts. We spent much time in many ways serving our church, and now have moved to a townhouse, praising God for a very colorful and fulfilling life.
Sixty-five wonderful years, loving my darling wife more and more each day.
Jack and Ann Carver, now great-grandparents, live in Bloomfield, Ontario County. He still volunteers at their church, and she still paints.
