For some people, it is love at first sight. For my parents (my dad, at least), it was love at fifth sight.
All it took was for my dad to see my mom five times at five different places working five different jobs on the SAME day to send him head over heels ...
In 1946, John Smith and Anne Mocilnikar worked at the "old" Boyd Hall cafeteria washing dishes and setting tables. After their shift one Saturday, John went to the health center. He went to the counter to check in and saw Anne working behind the counter.
Later in the day, John went to have a soft drink at the student center. Dad said, "In those days, you had to go buy a ticket for a Coke, stand in line and then give the guy the ticket, and he gave you the Coke." Anne sold him the ticket.
John went to the Bobcat baseball game that afternoon. He wanted peanuts. "Peanuts, get your peanuts here!" John looked up ready to hand the peanut seller the money and noticed that the peanut girl was Anne again.
It was Saturday night in Athens -- of course, there was a dance. John went to the dance and checked his coat. Guess who was the coat check girl -- Anne Mocilnikar.
When John realized that Anne worked everywhere he went on that single day he said, "That's the girl for me!"
John Smith and Anne Mocilnikar married on Aug. 30, 1947, after John’s graduation from Ohio University earlier in the year (and between Anne's junior and senior year). John accepted a job in accounting in Erie, Pa., where Anne finished her senior year at Villa Maria College.
John and Anne Smith celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary at a party Sept. 1.
An additional note from Marcia that accompanied her story shares a little more about the family's OU connection:
"Four out of six of John and Anne's children are OU graduates. One of their daughter-in-laws is a Bobcat. John's two brothers and a cousin were Bobcats, too. As a surprise for John on his 70th birthday, his family created the John J. and Anne M. Smith Endowed Scholarship at Ohio University (for qualifying students from John's high school in Ashtabula and from Anne's high school in Cleveland, Collinwood High School)."
Posted 11-02-07
