I remember!
In 1964, I was sitting near the back of the Ocala convention in Florida. I was reading my bible concerning some things that were said in the previous meeting. A married friend of mine, Max Hubner came in and sat down beside me. I don't recall any particulars of our conversation, but he did note that I was sad inspite of my smile and chat. In truth, I had a breakup with someone I was learning to love and it was all because of a misunderstanding of my life by some elderly people in Miami, but that is another story and not part of this one.
While we were chatting, I, and maybe Max, noticed an attractive young girl ease her way up toward seats near the front of the meeting tent. Max and I continued to chat while observing, more side glances, this girl who seem to be contemplating something. After a few minutes, she started to leave, but as she got near the row of where we were sitting, she drop something and reached to pick it up. After picking it up, she turned to us and asked if I was Roger Cleveland. Me or Max? Whom did she address this to? Well, Max, ever so clever, jumped up and said, 'No, Mame, this is Stirling Shippey and I am Max Hubner. I am just about to leave. Here you take my seat' and with that, he pulled her toward his vacated chair and pushed her down in it.
'Stirling is a chef for an Airline catering kitchen in Miami. He is 22 years old, five foot nine, and weighs about 145 pounds. He swims, sings and drives cars from Dalton, Ga to Miami for his Uncle. I have to go find my wife. Here, you chat with him.'
He turns to me and says 'That is $20, Stirling.' and to the girl he says, 'I'm Stirling's sponsor'. Good luck', and he leaves.
Look, I wasn't ready to meet a new girl, but Wow, this one is really pretty and she smiles like a princess. Oh, she tells me she is from Georgia, but this is another conversation where the particulars are not remembered, but the flutter of my heart is remembered. Now, this is Saturday afternoon and I didn't see her again until Sunday afternoon when I decided that I better get her address. So I searched for her after lunch with my little black book, you know, the address book most guys have when they are not really serious about life but want a bragging documentation diary. Mine was nearly empty.
I found her in the parking area among the cars where she was mopping around. She seemed pretty distressed as she later told me they were about to leave to go back to Georgia. But when I walked up and asked if I could write to her, her mood changed drastically. She was more than happy to give her address in Commerce, Georgia. And that was the start of a relationship that changed her life and mine, big time. She said she had the worst headache all Sunday, not knowing if I wanted to see or write her. I guess the headache went away and affairs dealing with the heart can do both, you know. They can give us headache and heartaches or feelings of euphoria.
By: Stirling Shippey
