Upon returning from my mission, I wanted to find the person I would spend eternity with. Within a few weeks of my coming home, I attended a church young adult weekend activity. (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 for a few minutes, and I asked her if she would go 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. We later discovered that we both had been to “Fidler on the Roof” a week earlier with different dates. A few days later there was another young adult activity, held at Recreation Park in Long Beach. I didn’t know where Recreation Park was, so I asked Kathy to ride with me and show me where it was. (She claims this was a plot on my part to get her to ride with me – but I really didn’t know where Recreation Park was.) We never ended up at the activity but instead sat in my car at the beach talking. Then, even more, I knew I wanted her eternally at my side. After a few more dates I proposed to her. This decision had more impact on my future than I could possibly grasp back then. It took a week while she wrestled with my question and said, "Yes." Kathy thinks things through carefully before committing. Also, she had been regularly dating a man who was 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 there was a future principal and Relief Society president 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 remembers. She was an exceptional teacher from the start. She had graduated from BYU with an elementary education major and a music minor. Teaching jobs were hard to find at graduation time and she ended up teaching 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." The class 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 it. 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 level of reading. Then someone 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 breakins were a weekly activity at the school. Kathy's classroom was only broken into once. They entered her classroom and went through a door ajoining the room next door. They trashed that room. They then went to a classroom on the other side of her room and trashed the room. And 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 tike we were together during this period. Finally one day I said to Kathy, "I have to marry you just to find out what color your eyes are."
In 1972 I received a draft notice. I decided to enlist in the Air Force instead of waiting to report to the Army. One of the questions during the application was if I had ever used illegal drugs. I told the recruiter about previous drug use, and he said he would not include that in my application. I knew better but said nothing. Later, at Lackland AFB, we were lectured about drugs and possible effects past drug use could have on our assignments. I wanted to be sure that I was square with the Air Force and I told my drill sergeant. I was sent to other authorities who decided that I did not fit the Air Force requirements. I should have insisted that the recruiter include my history on the application. I am a great believer in truth. I was honorably discharged for falling below Air Force standards. Then in January 1973, I again received a draft notice. On January 27, 1973, the Federal government announced that it was discontinuing the draft and would begin using volunteers to fill the military needs. Shortly, I received notice of my draft being cancelled.
Kathy and I were both completely committed to our faith, and we both 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 not only given until death but throughout eternity. 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 did not want to 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 so careful so we would not 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.