Connie's Version: How did Tom’s and My Path Meet?

It was 1969, the peak of our involvement, as a country, in Vietnam. I felt strongly led to answer the call of the American Red Cross to go to Vietnam to help boost the morale of our soldiers.

After completing my year-long duty in Vietnam, I returned to Meadow Vista. It was difficult to return “normal” life after my Vietnam experience. So, I decided to “re-up” with the Red Cross for stateside duty which involved service in military hospitals. My college friend and I went to the Red Cross headquarters in San Francisco for our interviews. She requested Balboa Naval Hospital in San Diego, I requested Letterman Army Hospital in San Francisco. Of course, the Red Cross assigned my friend to Letterman Army Hospital, (where she met the Army man she would later marry) and I was sent to Balboa Naval Hospital in San Diego, where I met a Navy Corpsman by the name of Tom Elmore, who became my husband of 50 years.

Toms' Version: HOW TWO MEs BECAME WE

When I was assigned a low draft number of 134 during my junior year in college I assumed I would be drafted into in the army or marines. I decided the better option was to enlist in the Navy and become a corpsman. After graduation I started training at Balboa Naval Hospital in San Diego. A couple of months later, during a lunch break, I saw a 3 inch San Diego Union headline proclaiming “DRAFT FROZEN AT 125.” Given my number was 134, I would have missed the draft by 9 points! But I would have also missed meeting the Love of My Life. That happened about 10 months later...

On a rainy spring day I arrived at my apartment building looking like a drowned rat after a bike ride was cut short by a flat tire. As I climbed the steps to the pool entrance, I noted the sound of someone swimming in the rain. Stepping onto the pool deck, I could see that it was the attractive Red Cross worker that I had noticed across the room during a Psychiatry department staff meeting. I inquired, “What are you doing, swimming in the rain?” Her reply? “Why don’t you come in and find out?” I jumped into the rest of my life…

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