I went home to work with Dad in the watermelons again, and Dale went to Santa Maria to colporteur with Ralph Allen, a dear friend who had graduated a year ahead of us. During our junior year Ralph and his girlfriend Alma Thiele were some of our best friends. When Ralph went to Pacific Union College Alma wanted to be near him so she attended and graduated from Pacific Union College Preparatory School. Even though they were not at MBA the next year we remained close friends with them.
Dale and Ralph had equal ownership in a 1950 Studebaker they used for getting around doing their book sales. Dale drove it to visit me in Arizona once during the summer. That vehicle also gave him a lot of trouble. It was at least 110 degrees across the California and Arizona deserts, and because the radiator kept boiling he kept the heater on all the way. He told me he stopped at every service station and said, “Fill ‘er up,” while he quickly added water. The gas tank did not need as much gas as the radiator needed water, but water was only for customers at those desert service stations.
It was such a thrill to see Dale drive into our yard that Friday afternoon. Sabbath we went to church and Sunday Dale helped me in the watermelon patch catching the 20 to 30 pound melons I threw to him to load on the pickup. Monday morning he followed Edie and me over the winding mountain road through Jerome to Prescott to deliver the melons. When we got to Prescott we kissed good bye, and he continued on to California. He told me we lost a melon off the pickup on the way over. I told him it was the only melon we lost all summer. He teased me by acting like he wasn’t convinced. Nevertheless, it was true! I saw that melon on the way home, smashed on the road in the middle of town close to where Dad worked, and I had not seen any others on the road!
I worked all summer hoeing, irrigating, thinning, picking, and delivering watermelons to the stores in Cottonwood, Prescott, Sedona, and Flagstaff. I would get paid cash for the load and bring the money home to Dad and Mom. I could see that there was not going to be enough for me at the end, especially for college tuition. I also had determined I was not going to spend another summer on the ranch. I wanted to go to college, but Dad would not listen to the idea of letting me attend a community college. I was troubled.
One day the mail brought a wedding invitation from Ralph and Alma. It also came with a letter asking me to be one of Alma’s bridesmaids. Dale had been asked to be one of the groomsmen. The wedding was going to be at the end of the summer in California. I saw this as an opportunity to be on my own and to say good-bye to my parents whom I loved dearly. I would take the Greyhound bus to Napa where Dale and his mother lived, then Dale and I would go to the wedding together in the Studebaker he now totally owned. I then would look for work and a place to live near Pacific Union College in order to be close to Dale.
The wedding was beautiful, and it was thrilling to see such close friends unite their lives in marriage. Dale and I were driving back from Placerville to Napa, when, sitting close together with his arm around me, he turned to me and said, “Will you be my wife?” It didn’t take me long to respond with a great big, “Yes!” We would work out all the details of a wedding date and college at a later time.
College began for Dale that week, and I started looking for work and a place to live. Dale’s grandmother, who lived in St. Helena, offered to rent her spare bedroom to me, and I found work at the St. Helena Sanitarium and Hospital as a nurse aide in the surgery department. Since nursing was my goal, I thoroughly enjoyed my work. My spare time was spent preparing for our wedding.
Sabbaths we would go to Dale’s mother’s home in Napa for church and return to our places Saturday night. Dale worked on his cousin’s apple farm on Sunday, and I often had to work at the hospital. Dale’s mother was married to Denney Ellyson in January, just six months before we were married. Dale and I were happy for them because now Mama would not be alone once we got married. Denney was the only father-in-law I knew, and he was very good to us.
We decided to get married the first weekend after Dale’s year of college ended. We chose the new Sanitarium (now Deer Park) SDA church for the celebration. We figured that if I had full-time work and Dale had part-time work, college for Dale would still fit in our budget.
My Cup Overflows. Copyright © 2009 by Carolyn Ratzlaff. All Scripture quotations—except where otherwise noted—are from The New American Standard Bible, © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1975, 1979, 1994 by the Lockman Foundation, used by permission. All rights reserved. Life Assurance Ministries, Inc.
Carolyn has always been a positive person enjoying life and outdoor activities such as hiking and gardening, and she and her husband currently raise a good portion of their own food in small grow boxes. She also reads many health journals and is often surprised at the contrast between what was taught through the writings of Ellen White on forbidden items of diet and health, and the beneficial evidence of these same items which is supported by a plethora of scientific studies.
She and her husband Dale Ratzlaff have two married sons and four grandchildren.
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