Marie Chappell

This love ballad represents 51 years of marriage to my high school sweetheart. It was a beautiful sunny day in June 1974. I believe it was a Saturday when he came over to my college dorm, asked me for a quiet place to talk, and then in all sincerity and without a ring, told me that he would provide for me, and when questioned, he said he had enough love in his heart to carry both of us through life, even if I didn’t! He then asked for my hand in marriage, and when I said “yes”, we went Downtown to Dodd’s Jewelers, picked out a wedding ring that costs a whooping $100 or so and was absolutely beautiful!

Now retired, with very serious medical issues, and unable to do a lot of husbandly-type things, he still strives to remain true as much as possible, to his promises of yesteryear!

I presented this love ballad to him on Sunday. August 31st; our actual 51st wedding anniversary. With the assistance of our sweet daughter Myla, who served as our personal chauffeur, we were able to enjoy a very nice and romantic dinner. Upon returning home, she began playing the ballad. I took his hand, and we danced while simultaneously becoming overjoyed to the point of tears, and so did Myla!

As our story goes, we have truly endured a lot over the years; growing up together! Him from a two-parent home, me a single-mom. I am No. 7 of 9 siblings! We became boyfriend and girlfriend at the tender ages of 15 and 16 respectively. He had just turned 20 years old on August 18th and I turned 19 years old that following October. Neither of us had a job at that time, so we crossed a picket line, worked in a bulb factory making headlights for vehicles, and earned money for our wedding ceremony and a typical cake/punch reception that followed!

It was a rainbow wedding! One of my older sisters, a seamstress extraordinaire, gave me her wedding dress, but added satin to the bottom half since I was slightly taller. She then had me purchase four bolts of fabric in royal blue, hot pink, orange and yellow and made dresses for my entire wedding party which were absolutely beautiful!

My husband earned enough to pay for his, my dad’s, the best man and all his groomsmen tuxedos with matching shirts to my girls dresses! Though small budget it was absolutely beautiful!

He continued working at that company until the strike ended in the fall and their employees returned to work. I returned to my two-year Legal Assistant program at college as a married woman, which was exactly what he had requested! He then went back to cement finishing with his dad’s construction company, until later becoming a Senior Blow Motor Specialist with a major packaging company!

We rented a one-bedroom cottage from his uncle for $50 per month. Once graduated, I accepted my first secretarial/bookkeeping job, which allowed us to purchase a newly built 2-bedroom condo with only a $200 down payment! Eventually we moved as our daughter and son were growing up and sharing a bedroom. We rented a larger house with a backyard and leased our condo! Over the years we’ve been blessed to prosper both financially and spiritually; purchasing more homes, luxury cars, extremely larger diamond rings, etc. while growing closer to God, raising not only our own children (which we were told we would never have; God’s favor), but several other displaced children within our family, and teaching them to love the Lord with all their heart, soul, mind and strength and to live life on purpose!

This love ballad is one of 10 songs that I have written. I produced and submitted one other, “Faith over Fear”, but to no avail. I am hopeful to have more success this time around! If selected, I plan to professionally produce the remaining eight! When my mother died in 2013, another older sister stole everything, and I didn’t get even a picture of her, so I vowed then to leave my family something to remember me by; thus their own special song!

Lastly, I pray everyday that my husband’s health holds up! Admittedly, I felt a sense of urgency to present him this song, this year! I also believe that God has orchestrated this entire opportunity, which explains why the music studio owner, Justin, expressed to me that he couldn’t remember ever witnessing “perfect sound on the very first take”. So I sang it again for the sake of comparison and the first one won out again! My sister Glenda who accompanied me, witnessed Justin’s comments as they were both quite impressed! I like to think it was God’s favor once again!

Humbly submitted,

Marie Chappel!