50 YEARS TOGETHER
(Judy & Clealon Campbell)

It was the fall of `49 as best that I remember,
a high school club party at a house out on North Denver.

I was kinda tired that evening, didn`t want to go,
but I`d made a promise to attend, and thought, I`d better show.

I put on the best I had hanging on the rack,
and drove off in the families` `39 Pontiac.

I arrived just a little late, and much to my surprise
the place was really jumpin` with teen age gals and guys.

I`ll just sorta mingle and have some cake and Coke,
and listen to the music and try to tell a joke.

After being seen a while to prove I`d kept my word,
I`d just ease right out the door as quiet as a bird.

Then something happened to change my very life,
I looked across the room and spied by future wife.

She was the cutest thing that I had ever seen,
the very answer to my hearts fondest dreams.

I mustered up my courage, did I really have a chance,
crossed the floor and asked her, "would you care to dance"?

"Yes", she said, "I`d love to", and gave me that sweet smile,
and right then and there, I decided to stay a while.

Some say love at first sight is just a fairy tale,
it`s just infatuation and really doomed to fail.

But I think we both could tell as soon as we had met,
that putting money on these nags would be a winning bet.

Our courtship was a long one by most standards of the day,
it was 3 1/2 years before her dad gave her away.

At our church out north on Cincinnati Avenue,
Brother Jim asked us the question, and we both replied, "I do".

Two years in the Army and two more to finish school,
by then we had two children with two more to follow; cool.

Seems like hardly any time before our kids were grown,
and from our close knit family they began to roam

With grandkids scattered everywhere, keeping track, we bust our fanny,
but it gives us so much pride to be called Grandpa and Granny.

God has surely blessed us, so much we`re thankful for,
we have our family and our friends and oh`, so much more.

This brings us to this very hour, 50 years of married life,
Judy, what would I have been without you as my wife?

--- Clealon, June 12, 2003