An Everlasting Love

One thing I've kept in mind while digging in my family's past is that sometimes, it's nice to take a break from the files and the clues, and focus on the people sitting right in front of you.

Take for instance, my grandfather, Phillip Bradford Eby. Today, I got to spend the afternoon just in his company, which is a true gift that I've often taken advantage of. While we were sitting there watching an episode of Gunsmoke, I quickly asked, without thinking, "How did you and Grandma Pearl meet?"

My Grandparents. (A little back story: My grandmother died in 2003, and since then I've always felt it safe to avoid bringing her up in his company. The only time I have ever seen him cry was at her funeral. I cannot handle emotions well, and I usually avoid anything that could lead to tears being shed because I become an awkward idiot patting people on the heads saying "No...you...no cry.")

Papa Phil has not been feeling well lately, and today was no different. He was very quiet and lethargic when I arrived, and up until I asked this question I thought he was asleep. But when I mentioned my grandmother's name, he smiled and seemed to get a jolt of energy throughout his body.

"My dad used to take me to the skating rink when I was 14," he said."After that I was skating." My grandfather used to frequent skating rinks when he was a teenager, and Jacksonville had plenty. He was working for his grandfather at the time, who was a locksmith, and as a little bonus he would let Phil take the car out. He took the car and went to a skating rink in Fernandina Beach, where he became friends with a group of local boys who lived on the beach, and he moved in with them.

From Fernandina, he traveled to a skating rink in Macon, Georgia, and other rinks in the area. Eventually he ended up as the floor manager of the skating rink on Lem Turner.

My Grandfather, Phillip Eby, in the rink. "I took my girlfriend there one night, and she introduced me to her friend," he told me, barely paying attention to the western on TV. That friend was Pearl Opal Lucas. He turned her down, because he had already brought his girlfriend.

"I told her 'no way, I'm not going to do that.'"

Pearl told him that since he turned her down, she wouldn't skate with him when he DID ask her one day.

A few nights later, my grandfather was at the rink working, when he turned around and noticed that his girlfriend was skating with another man. "It was fine, because I was working," he said. Still, he wanted to skate, and he spotted Pearl. He approached her and asked her to skate, and she said yes.

While the two were skating, she told him that she wasn't going to accept, but changed her mind quickly. While they were skating, he turned his head and they kissed.

Two weeks later, while they were in a car outside of an A&W Root beer Stand, he asked her to marry him. She said yes.

"So we went to Folkston to get married, and got our blood test done. They couldn't marry us though, because a storm had just came through and messed up the town. So we went to Woodbine and got married in the judges living room," he told me, grinning. "I tipped him $5."

My grandparents at the beach. Well, whatever they did worked. They were a loving couple and remained married. It's funny to know that a moment in a skating rink led to 4 children, 8 grandchildren, and 1 (so far) great-grandchildren. If you're looking for inspiration for your marriage or relationship, look to your grandparents.