Reminiscing after 50 years of marriage

I had just become a rookie sportswriter at the Morning News in late 1957 when I met the two writers on what was then called the Women’s Desk. Shortly before that, it had been called the Society Desk.
One also was a newcomer, having been there a week or two, and I learned her name was Sandra Nofal. The name rang a bell because we had mutual friends, and I had heard them speak of her.

We hit it off pretty well and one day looking at a sign-out board in the newsroom we noticed that put together, our initials spelled SANTEA, practically the same thing as Santee. We wondered, does this mean anything?

Maybe it did. Not long after that there was a newsroom function for which everybody except us had a spouse or a date, so we went together. That went well and one thing led to another, after another, after another.

Finally, we arrived at the stupendous decision to marry and topped that off by setting the date for March 15, 1959, the Ides of March. That suggests a touch of optimism and inspired a number of little jokes. Things didn’t turn out well for Caesar on that day, but worked out very nicely for me.

Today is something I wondered if I would see — our 50th wedding anniversary.

In a column 25 years ago on our silver anniversary, I dwelled on how things had changed in that 25 years. Twenty-five years later, they have changed much more.

When we were married in 1959, Ernest F. Hollings was governor, David H. McLeod was mayor of Florence, and James Jones was still staging his inspiring one-man battle against polio. Dr. W.G. Foster, pastor of First Presbyterian Church, conducted the ceremony, and as it turned out, we were the last couple married in the small sanctuary First Prez used until the present sanctuary was occupied a couple of weeks later.

The honeymoon trip was to New York and was largely on U.S. 301. I-95 was just starting to be built. It was a long, tough drive then. We stayed at the old Statler Hilton Hotel because I had learned that their phone number was PEnnsylvania 6-5000. If you’re old enough to remember Glenn Miller, you will understand why that phone number was important.

New York certainly has seen change since we spent a few days there on that trip. The great old Penn Station was destroyed a few years after that, and while that was a tragedy, it did serve to remind New York to think a little more before destroying things. The World Trade Center has come and gone since then, and prices have gone up somewhat since we paid $8.05, top price, for tickets to a couple of Broadway shows. Now show prices reach three figures before the decimal, and don’t assume that four figures is out of the question.

Our first Broadway show was “My Fair Lady,” which started its fourth year at the hour of our wedding. Speaking of changes, the Mark Hellinger Theater where we saw that show is now a church. Here’s a good change. In 1984, there were about 16 Broadway shows, and many feared for the future of live theater. This week, there were 26 shows despite the scary economy, so that’s progress.

Florence still had a busy, vibrant downtown in 1959. At least half of it has been destroyed, most in the name of urban renewal. Reminds me a little of Penn Station. Highway 301 still brought heavy traffic through town and kept many local businesses going. Now the tourists are on I-95. The Atlantic Coast Line Railroad was the major Florence employer for a few more years before disappearing in a tsunami of mergers. Still, the town has grown, and South Dargan Street is learning to sparkle.

As for Sandra and me, things have gone pretty well. Mark, Kyle, Jill, Brittany and Katelyn have been added. We have seen most of the country and had a taste of the world.

It was a little after 3/15/59 that I realized I had married the Energizer Bunny. It is extremely difficult to keep her still, and her optimism is enough to brighten the most difficult times. She has been an important booster of Florence arts, and Florence Little Theatre has been lucky to have her, but not as lucky as I.

— Thom Anderson is a retired journalist who has 40 years experience with South Carolina newspapers, including the Morning News. He can be reached at .