Friday, June 9, 2017

How I ended up with a last name no one can pronounce correctly!

Louise M. Gouge here. When I was young and working in Denver, I met a new friend at church, and we hit it off right away. We both needed to economize, so we decided to share an apartment. Then she invited me to double date with her and her boyfriend by going out with his roommate. I was reluctant. After all, I’d always said I would never date OR marry a redheaded man or one with a “funny” or peculiar last name. So some redhaired guy named David Gouge didn’t appeal to me at all. I mean, how do you even pronounce that last name? Gowj? Gorge? Goog? But at my roomie’s pleading, I finally agreed. 


To my surprise and delight, it turned out David was tall, cute, hardworking, and, best of all, funny. (This picture was taken just before he went to Viet Nam.)

For a week or so, we went out almost every night. You know, the usual things: dancing, movies, house hunting. What? House hunting? Oh, I forgot to say that my roomie and her beau had been dating since high school and he really wanted to marry her, hence the house hunting…with David’s and my help, of course. Pretty soon it was very clear to David and me…and my roomie…that her beau wasn’t the right guy for her. By the end of two weeks, even he could see they weren’t compatible, so they broke up.

But that funny, handsome, redhaired David? He kept on calling to ask me out. And I kept on saying “yes,” even when he asked me to marry him!



We were married on June 11, 1965, just two and two-thirds months (82 days!) after we met. That was fifty-two years ago this coming Sunday.







For our fiftieth wedding anniversary, June 2015, our children gave us a very lovely party. 




Our minister son led us in renewing our vows.

Each of our four children has at least a smidgeon of red in her/his hair, from strawberry blonde to rich auburn, and I’ve come to regard that as my favorite hair color. I even dyed my own hair red for a few years! See picture at top of page. At right, see most of our clan.


As for that peculiar last name, today when people inevitably mispronounce it, we say, “It rhymes with Scrooge.” Now that’s funny!

27 comments:

  1. What a great love story Louise. And you looked lovely in red hair. Thanks for sharing.

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  2. What a sweet story! I've told many a friend to be careful about those "nevers." They seem to come to pass. LOL.

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  3. What a sweet love story, Louise. It's funny how life often gives us the last thing we think we want. Sounds like your friend was a great matchmaker. Blessings!

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  4. Louise, I love your story! What a special romance. So were you an Army wife for the first few years? Thank your sweet hubby for his service!

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  5. Louise, thanks for sharing. Just delightful. And I'm so glad your funny red-headed hubby came home safe from Viet Nam so you could share this sweet story with us.

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  6. Thank you for the comments. About David's military service: He was drafted over a year after we got married, about the same time we got pregnant with our first child. I should have made that clear.

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  7. I love hearing everyone's story. I was the opposite of you. I had an unusual maiden name (Chelikowsky -- anyone in the US with that last name is related to me, probably closely) and couldn't help thinking Gordon was a such a common name. I knew it would hurt my husband deeply if I didn't take Gordon as my last name, so I made Chelikowky my middle middle name.

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  8. Scrooge is the last connotation I'd put with Gouge--sweet Louise Gouge, especially. And as a (mostly) redhead (lots of it is gray now), I'm glad your own redhead did not disappoint.

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  9. How sweet! It's wonderful that you've lived a happily-ever-after life. Red heads are wonderful. My family is full of them, too. :)

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  10. Thanks so much for sharing your love story, Louise! And congratulations on 52 years of marriage!

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    1. Thank you, Myra. BTW, my middle name is Myra, and I write as Louise M. Gouge rather than using my maiden name initial, J for Jacobs, because it makes a prettier signature. I think we talked about this a few years ago, right?

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  11. Congratulations on 52 years!!!!! I enjoyed your story. My husband and I married after knowing each other 9 weeks. He wanted to marry in 4 weeks. I was a Signal Captain in the Michigan National Guard and had Annual Training in 4 weeks. I said I could put a wedding together at the same time I was preparing for Annual Training, so the wedding had to wait until after! It still makes for a good story!

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    1. That's awesome, Jennifer. Thank you for your service!

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  12. What a wonderful story!! God's plans are so much better than ours.

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  13. What a lovely story!! It's truly like one of our books. Love hearing these stories.

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    1. I know. I've written it as a short story with much more detail, but I'd like to make it a full length book.

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  14. I, too had a whirlwind romance that lasted through the years. Great story.

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  15. Love the photos. Awesome story :)

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  16. 52 years married! Congratulations!!!

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  17. Congrats on the 52 years! Such a beautiful love story.

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