Upon returning from my mission, I wanted to find the person I would spend eternity with. Within a few weeks of coming home, I attended a young adult weekend activity at Church. (M-men and Gleanors back then.) I met Kathy Nunnally there. She was a recent BYU graduate. I liked her but didn't get to know her well enough yet to be smitten by her. A few days later, I was asked to help at a children's meeting at Church. I saw Kathy there with her class of children. It was as if a light from heaven was shining on her, telling me to ask her out. After the Church meetings, I found her as quickly as I could. We spoke briefly, and I asked her if she would see “Fidler on the Roof” with me. She said yes. That Friday, when she put her hand in mine during the movie, I knew then that I wanted it there forever. A few days later, another young adult activity was held at Recreation Park in Long Beach. I didn’t know the name, "Recreation Park", so I asked Kathy to ride with me and show me where it was. (Kathy has a different version of this story. She claims this was my plot to get her to ride with me – but I didn’t know where Recreation Park was. And if it puts her with me in the car, so be it.) We never ended up at the activity; instead, we talked in my car at the beach. Then, even more, I knew I wanted her eternally at my side. After a few more dates, I proposed to her. This decision impacted my future more than I could grasp back then. She wrestled with my question for a week and said, "Yes." Kathy thinks things through carefully before committing. Also, she had been regularly dating a man who was then out of town being trained for his employment. I feel sorry for the other guy who came home from his training assignment to find his steady girl about to be engaged to someone else. You must act quickly when you know it’s right. Kathy says that he was never in the running as her future husband, though. When I met Kathy, she was so shy. She was always great with kids but froze with new adults. Who would have guessed that a future principal and Relief Society president was hiding there? I loved her back then but had no idea what her potential would be. And I love her so much more now.
Kathy has wanted to teach for as long as she can remember. She was an exceptional teacher from the start. She graduated from BYU with a major in elementary education and a minor in music. Teaching jobs were hard to find at graduation, so she taught in central Los Angeles (Watts). On her first day on the job at 122nd Street School, she was writing on the chalkboard when a large rock hit the chalkboard just above her head. She turned around and said, "Someone is a lousy shot." They were stunned at first, then laughed, and the student who tried to create intimidation and fear had failed. At PE that day, she had the class practice throwing. They considered her to be gutsy, and they had a great year together. Yes, she was scared, but she didn't let them know. She was teaching a combination fifth-sixth grade class, but testing showed her class average reading level was just above first grade. She set aside the classroom books and taught them, starting from where they each were. At the end of the year, she was disappointed that they averaged just above the second-grade reading level. Then, the vice principal pointed out that for the first time in their lives, they had academically advanced a year during a year. This teaching experience began a love for reaching impoverished students that lasted for her life. She has always sought out the students at the bottom, hoping to show them the way to the top.
Vincent was a member of her class who showed leadership potential. Kathy selected him to be her class president. And he did have leadership potential. He turned out to be a rising leader in the local gang. Vincent spent the next two years with his gang protecting her. Classroom break-ins were a weekly activity at the school. Kathy's classroom was only broken into once. They entered her classroom and went through the door adjoining the room next door. They trashed that room. They then went to a classroom on the other side of her room and trashed it. Before they left, they wrote, "Good morning, Ms. Nunnally," in chalk on her blackboard and left. The demands of teaching this class were hard on Kathy. By the time she was ready to head home each night, she was exhausted. Because of this, she fell asleep every night we were together during the dating period. Finally, one day, I said to Kathy, "I have to marry you just to find out what color your eyes are."
Kathy and I were completely committed to our faith, and we knew the only place to be married was in the temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, where your marriage is for eternity. There is no "until death do you part." We wanted this for us, and we knew this was what the Lord wanted for us. A temple marriage requires a commitment to live by the highest standards of our faith, including the law of chastity, meaning no physical intimacy until after marriage. Kathy was in her first year of teaching in inner-city Los Angeles at a challenging school in Watts. She could not add adjusting to a new marriage to that challenge, so we decided to wait until the school year was over eight months later to be married. We had to be careful not to fall short of Church standards and endanger our marriage in the temple, where we knew the Lord wanted us to marry. The covenants made in the temple have helped carry us through the difficult times that were to come. We were married on my dad's birthday, July 14, 1973.