Part 2: Sam

I stayed with my family in Short Town for a few days before Uncle Bert, Dempsey, Marie, Otha, and I traveled back to Ravenswood. Now, back in Louisiana, I tried to go back to school. I was such a child, and yet had been married. I was still in the sixth grade and too embarrassed to learn. I soon gave up the hope of an education. Now that I am older, I can understand what my problems were. I still long for an education.

Soon I began to feel like I had sinned in leaving my husband, and wished he would come to Louisiana. I wrote three letters to J. D. trying to persuade him to come to me. I received no reply, so I gave up and turned my interest elsewhere.

Later, I received papers to sign giving him a divorce. I signed them willingly. I didn’t mind so much by then because I had met Sam, a very nice young man. I fell in love with him. I had thought I might get a divorce soon from J. D., and I let myself fall so deeply in love with Sam that it seemed nothing else mattered. After keeping company with Sam for awhile, we married. I had no idea what heartache was ahead for me. But even today I still love this man more than words can explain.

After I married Sam, my second husband, I learned that J. D. had never gotten my letters. My family was unhappy that I had married J. D. and had let him know it.

Back when J. D. and I had started housekeeping in Alabama, Daddy’s first cousin’s wife, Roxie, had been our neighbor. She had kept an eye on me, and had loaned us some quilts and a set of black irons. When lonesome, I would visit her. Our mailboxes were up on the main road side by side.

After I had gone back to Louisiana, Roxie watched the mailbox to make sure that J. D. would not get any letters I might write to him. It was not until after Roxie died that I learned that she taken those three letters out of Wallace’s mailbox, read them, and burned them. Later, I was told how J. D. cried for months. He had wanted me back, but was afraid of my family. We were all much too unwise to handle the situation.

Sam was kind and good to me. Our lives seemed blended together and we loved each other so dearly. I never thought that there could be that much happiness in this life for me. But it wasn’t God’s will from the beginning. When we were first married, I told him that I had a feeling we would never live together in a home of our own.

Sam became discouraged because he could not find employment. Without telling me, he joined the army. Later, a little daughter was born to us. He was privileged to come home to see the baby and me quite often. It seemed he was very happy when he was with us. But with the outbreak of war he was soon sent overseas to Northern Ireland. I did not feel we would meet again.

Before he left the United States, he wrote and said, “Darling, my heart is broken. If I could be happy, I wouldn’t mind going, but knowing I have to leave you and our dear little baby makes me feel like dying. If I never return, you can remember I love you dearly and, whatever you do, take care and be good to my dear little baby.”

By the time I received this letter, he had already gone. It seemed I couldn’t bear it. I cried myself sick, but it wasn’t so long until I started trusting God for help. The more I prayed the less use it seemed to pray for our life together. I knew I had wanted it my way, but God worked with me and I began to surrender more to God.

While in the service, Sam would write often. He dreamed of the day when we could be together, but there was never enough money for Billie and me to go and live near him. So we waited, dreamed, and prayed for the day when we could be free. At this point, we were not aware that we truly would have to forever separate.