From a blind date to 81 Years of marriage: Ruth and Vernon Mize’s story

When Vernon Mize asked Ruth Wright to marry him during a short military leave in 1944, neither had much money, but what they did have was a love that would carry them across eight states, four children, and more than eight decades together.

Ruth and Vernon Mize, both born and raised in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1924, have witnessed many historical events, including the Roaring 20s, the Great Depression, World War 2, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, and the Gulf War.

The current residents of Florence have experienced 17 presidential administrations, starting with Calvin Coolidge and have lived in eight states. They’ve witnessed events and inventions including the television, sliced bread and chocolate chip cookies.

The lead-up to 81 years of marriage began in 1940, when the couple started dating at 16 after being set up by mutual friends as a blind date. Ruth recalls that she wasn’t allowed to leave the house, so they spent a lot of time sitting on the front porch.

When they could leave the house, they would take the streetcar to get a malt and do lots of double dating until the days of the 36 Ford family car. This allowed them to go to the movies and then to Dairy Queen for a milkshake.

Six weeks after Vernon graduated from high school in 1943, he was drafted into the Coast Guard and stationed on Hilton Head Island. His initial service required beach patrol on horseback.

One night of painful horseback riding was all he needed, and Vernon decided that he would inquire about being a cook. He secured the job and was subsequently promoted to Ship’s Cook 3rd Class, a position he held throughout his military service.

While Vernon was in the service, he and Ruth exchanged love letters/Western Union telegrams.

After three years of dating, Ruth and Vernon got engaged in March of 1944. Vernon came home on leave months later in November, and the pair decided then they were getting married.

“He came home, and he asked me to get married,” Ruth said. “I think he didn’t want a ‘Dear John letter’ [a letter written to end a romantic relationship.] He didn’t have any money. We didn’t have any money. Didn’t have nothing.”

His request to the military for time off read, “Getting married tomorrow, please send papers.” Because Vernon was only 20, not 21, at the time, his dad had to sign for him to get married; the woman, however, only had to be 18.

“My younger brother wouldn’t even come to the wedding,” Vernon said. “He thought she was just trying to marry me for the insurance.”

Ruth’s mom was worried about her marrying during the war, as Vernon’s boat was scheduled to deploy to the South Pacific, and she was concerned he would come back in a box.

Vernon said that Ruth’s agreement to the quick wedding possibly saved his life because his ship was deployed to the South Pacific while he was on leave, and some of the crew were wounded or never returned.

Ruth and Vernon married in Ruth’s childhood home on Nov. 15, 1944.

“They fixed up the house as best they could in a hurry, and my mom went with me and bought me a new outfit, and we shopped quite a while, and I had to have my hair done, and it was a busy, busy day for everybody,” Ruth said.

Ruth recalls being lucky to find the blue suit she wore on her wedding day.

“They happen to have one pale colored blue suit; most everything you bought then was black because they didn’t use the dyes for anything except the service,” she said.

There were 13 guests in attendance at the wedding.

Ruth said they didn’t have any money for a honeymoon. Her sister paid for a hotel for them the first night, then they went back to Memphis, TN, with Vernon’s older brother, Robert, for a couple of days after the wedding.

The newlyweds began their life together at Sullivan’s Island, SC, in a house where you could see the waves. Then Vernon was stationed in Charleston, NC. The couple rented a two-room apartment above a bicycle shop. The apartment had black walls, one chair, one bed and a cheap dresser. Vernon brought home $65 a month, and $50 went toward the monthly rent.

The couple was then stationed in Southport near Wilmington, NC, but no jobs were available for Ruth. Times were extremely tough in Southport. Vernon had access to food while working as a cook, but Ruth, at times, would only have a loaf of bread for a week.

In 1946, the war ended for the Coast Guard, and they moved in with Ruth’s parents in Birmingham while Vernon enrolled at Howard College, known today as Samford University.

Vernon played catcher in college, and he wanted to continue taking classes so he could keep playing ball. Ruth was working to put him through college, so that didn’t happen.

Still operating on the quarter system, Vernon got his full degree in accounting in three years. He graduated in 1949.

At Howard College, Vernon attended school with Bobby Bowden, Florida State University’s football coach from 1976 to 2009. They both belonged to the same fraternity, Pi Kappa Alpha. Vernon has one of Bowden’s footballs in his TV room, which ironically is decked out in the University of Alabama football memorabilia.

Vernon’s love for the Crimson Tide became even stronger when they recruited several players from his high school, Woodlawn. Several of his family members also attended the University of Alabama. Even today, Vernon is a book of knowledge on the history of Alabama football and is willing to share his knowledge with anyone willing to listen.

Though he held a degree in accounting, Vernon’s first job out of college was as an insurance manager in Decatur, AL. In Decatur, Vernon and Ruth bought their first new car, an aqua 49 Ford for $800.

In 1951, Ruth and Vernon landed in Kansas City so Vernon could attend airline school, and Delta Airlines then recruited him, bringing him to Atlanta. Back then, the airline operated out of a Quonset hut (a lightweight prefabricated structure of corrugated galvanized steel with a semi-circular cross-section). He was the manager of dining and cabin service.

Ruth had 13 jobs before she and Vernon started a family, and she became a stay-at-home mom. Some of the roles Ruth worked were a cashier at a restaurant, for the telephone company, for the Army Corps of Engineers and for Western Union as a typist.

“Everywhere he would go, I would have to change jobs,” Ruth said.

While in Atlanta, they purchased their first house in Hapeville (close to the airport) for $5,000 with a $500 down payment and a $50 monthly payment. Two of their daughters were born at that home. Vicki (Locke) in 1955 and Pam (Mendez) in 1958.

The airport was expanding, and it bought them out of their first home, and they then moved into their second house. This was where their third daughter, Kathy (Kuhn), was born in 1960. Kuhn’s home in Florence is where the couple resides today.

Vernon left Delta and moved to Detroit in 1964 to work for Interstate Host, a catering kitchen servicing all airlines. He managed 135 people for three years before heading to Orlando, Florida, in anticipation of opening his own restaurant, “Dog House.” That venture ended abruptly, and the family headed to Gainesville, Florida, around 1968, where Vernon was a partner in running a Ponderosa Steak House.

Ruth and Vernon’s son, Scott Mize, came along 10 years later in 1970 when the couple was 46.

“I told you I’d get that boy,” Vernon joked.

“That kept them young, for many, many years,” Kuhn said. “I truly believe that.”

Gainesville became home for the next 53 years.

Ruth started decorating cakes at home to help supplement their income, which became a passion and love that started after attending cake decorating classes in Detroit. Ruth would use her talents to create mini, decorated cakes as gifts, to be kind to others and lift their spirits, one of her core values.

Ruth was also talented at sewing, something she learned at the age of 5. Ruth would sit next to her grandma while she sewed, watching and learning in hopes of getting a scrap or two so she could practice. Ruth attended clothing design classes in Birmingham after she was married and learned how to design her own clothes. She was able to recreate most outfits she found at the department stores. Later in life, she regularly made clothes for her three girls.

Vernon worked a variety of jobs in Gainesville. Besides managing/running a Ponderosa Steak House for 10 years, he owned Osteen Wholesale Sandwiches for 10 years, managed a Krispy Kreme shop, and was a manager at Hill and Brooks Coffee Co.

“After I got through with the coffee company, Ruth told me I was going to retire, and then she said, ‘Go get something to do,’” Vernon said. “So, I started working for the blood bank.”

Vernon started working for LifeSouth Community Blood Center at age 63. It was one of his favorite jobs he held because he could talk to people all day long and help them at the same time.

Before retiring at the age of 70, Vernon had also donated over 25 gallons of his own blood.

Even though he retired, Vernon needed something to keep busy, so he worked for his local church, which he and Ruth attended. The couple has been Presbyterians for 80 years.

Kuhn said even though her dad was in Florida among the Gator fans, her dad remained loyal to Alabama. She said Vernon would go to the podium during church to try and recruit for the blood drives, and his pastor would say, “Vernon, don’t bring up the score of the game (between Florida and Alabama.)”

“So, he didn’t say a word, but on his coffee cup he had the score written on it as he walked down the aisle,” Kuhn said.

Vernon and Ruth were 97 when Kuhn and her husband, Ken Kuhn, moved her parents into their home with them in Florence. The couple was still in Florida, maintaining Kuhn’s childhood home on their own, all four children having moved out of the state.

The couple has eight grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren and counting.

Kuhn has lived in Florence for approximately 43 years. When Ruth and Vernon moved in with their daughter, Kuhn and her husband ended up selling their house and buying their neighbors’ home, which was more suitable for the four of them.

Vernon turned 101 this year on March 25, and Ruth is turning 101 on Dec. 11. The pair has lived in Florence for about four years now. They have their own section of the house that Kuhn calls the “West wing.”

“I had to promise him an Alabama room. I think that might have helped,” Kuhn said.

Kuhn said, when you’re growing up, you don’t realize how lucky and fortunate you are to have parents who are still together and hold so much love for one another. As you get older and see the real world, you realize that not everybody has that.

She said her parents were born in the “Greatest Generation.” The Greatest Generation was born from the early 1900s to the mid-1920s.

The common characteristic of Greatest Generation members, according to Investopedia.com, is that they lived through the hardships of the Great Depression and later either fought in World War II or worked in the industries that contributed to winning the war.

“They are so grateful for everything,” Kuhn said. “They’re so appreciative. They just have a whole different mindset than a lot of people today. I feel like a lot of people feel like they’re entitled to stuff. They went through the Depression, and they had nothing. Most of us, even myself, don’t really know what they went through.”

So, what is the secret to 81 years of marriage?

“Let the wife be the boss,” Vernon said.

“He was always super good to me,” Ruth said. “I was always number one and still am.”

Ruth said she and Vernon never had a problem getting along.

“Ruth and I have always been truthful to each other, and I think that’s the whole thing right there,” Vernon said.