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Stafford County couple grew up in the same hometown in Iowa, but might not have met if not for the attack on Pearl Harbor Date published: 12/7/2009
By CATHY DYSON Betty and LeVerne Klaas grew up in the same Midwestern town, but might have never met if he hadn't been stationed in Hawaii on that fateful day in 1941. LeVerne was a 19-year-old sailor on the island of Oahu when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. After the bombing, his name was listed in his hometown newspaper in Iowa--more than 4,000 miles away--along with those of others "in harm's way." Betty saw the story in the Davenport Times on Dec. 8, 1941, the day after the attack. She picked LeVerne's name from the 111 sailors and soldiers on the list and started writing him. The two were pen pals for two years, and not once did either hint that anything more might come from the relationship. When LeVerne announced in 1943 that he wanted to visit Washington, where Betty had gotten a job after high school, Betty figured she'd show him the sights. But fate, which already connected the two, had other plans. Within 10 minutes of meeting face-to-face, LeVerne asked Betty to marry him. Betty needed five minutes to think about it, then said yes. The two have been together for 66 years and have lived around the world. They moved to Stafford County 15 years ago. He's 87 and she's 85. "It's just the strangest thing, I think," Betty said about how they initially connected. It all came about because she literally picked his name out of a hat. "I'm glad she did," LeVerne said, smiling. 'IT WAS PARADISE' After high school, LeVerne was 19 and eager to see the world, so he joined the Navy. He was thrilled when his first permanent duty was at Kaneohe Bay Naval Air Station on the Hawaiian island of Oahu. "I thought it was paradise," said the Iowa native who grew up along the Mississippi River, where temperatures dipped to 22 degrees below zero. "It was great duty as far as I was concerned." Until Dec. 7, 1941. A few minutes before 8 that Sunday morning, LeVerne was working in a hangar. He was an aviation metalsmith assigned to the PBYs, or patrol bombers, housed at the new naval station. "All I remember was the bullets raining down on us everywhere, and we had nothing to shoot back with," he said.
I love when FLS prints these types of stories. It really makes me think "wow, I hope my husband and I will get to enjoy 60+ years together."
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