David Bowers headed from the USS Mobile to the United Services Organization in downtown Everett on Oct. 1, 1946. It was a place where service personnel went to eat snacks, to talk, to dance and to meet friends.
Many of those who went to the USO had just returned from World War II combat zones. They wanted to relax and enjoy some entertainment. David, a sailor from Pennsylvania, wanted to sit down and write to his mother.
“I hadn’t done that in a while,” David said.
Charlotte, an Everett native, was a volunteer USO hostess. Even though the ratio of men to women was 30 to 1, the USO was the last place any of the girls working there planned to get serious.
Until that night.
Charlotte was in charge of the Harvest Dance. She was standing on a ladder decorating, along with her cousin Betty. When she saw David come through the door, she turned to her cousin.
“That is the man I am going to marry,” Charlotte said.
David sat down at a table. He began writing his letter. Charlotte, hoping he wasn’t married, went over to him and asked whether he was writing to his wife.
“No. I’m writing to my mother,” David said.
“Good,” replied a relieved Charlotte.
The two attended the dance together the following Saturday. It was the last time Charlotte ever went to the USO.
“It was nice to have a girl,” David said.
David and Charlotte Bowers of Marysville will celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary today.
The couple were married July 11, 1947, and have two daughters, four grandchildren and one great-grandchild.
During their first date at the Harvest Dance, Charlotte was disappointed when David wanted to play cards. David said he didn’t dance, but when he got up on the floor, that wasn’t the case.
“He was a marvelous dancer,” Charlotte said.
After that night, the couple started going steady. David proposed to Charlotte on his birthday, Nov. 23.
His service with the Navy was complete in February 1947, and they married five months later.
It took eight years for David and Charlotte to have their first child.
“We had those years to know each other,” David said.
Their second daughter came along in 1955.
The deeply Christian couple also took care of teenagers throughout their lives together.
“He is such a family man,” Charlotte said. “A tremendous father.”
As a family, they liked to ski, travel and have fun times at Lake Cavanaugh.David retired from Verizon. He perfected his hobby of stained glass art by working at Covenant Art Glass in Everett. Charlotte retired from Western Washington Urological Group. The couple spends half the year in Florida enjoying sunny days. The other six months are spent in the Northwest.
David and Charlotte would advise people starting out to be loyal and, if difficulties arise, to go back to the beginning of the relationship and look at what was strong then.
Charlotte looks back to the day she met David and clearly sees God’s hand on that meeting, she said. She says that David has been a steady influence, faithful and always there.
David stopped to think about how he would describe his life with Charlotte, about what kind of wife and mother she has been for these 60 years. With tears in his eyes, he said it has been a dream.
“She was all I wanted and I love her. Always have and always will,” David said. “I’d be miserable without her.”
For information on Love Story and Celebrations, call Christina Harper at 425-339-3491 or e-mail harper@heraldnet.com.
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