Our Heliocopter Ride over the Erupting Volcano

10. Paul's First Visit to Hawaii - 1951 - Part 2

Young Soldier Marries and Beautiful young Lady In 1955 Bernice Chase and I were married in Springfield, Oregon. We moved to a home in Berkeley and in 1957 and 1960 Chet and Landon were born. As the boys grew up Bernice had always hankered to go vacationing in Hawaii. Knowing that we could not really afford that in our early years, to soften the disappointment I concocted a "true" story about Hawaii. I told her truthfully that I had already visited Hawaii and really wondered why anyone would want to go there. I told her that during my visit that the sun had not shone once and the entire time I was there it rained. Why would anyone want to visit a place like that? That kept her subdued for a number of years.

A Good Ending to the Story Later when the kids were in college I hinted to her that she should ask me when and how I had visited Hawaii. When she did I confessed that I had been there for two hours in the middle of the night and that my story was completely true. It was the truth but not the whole truth. We then visited Hawaii twice and had a wonderful four weeks there in the following years. We spent two weeks in Maui with time on the beaches with our friends the Coutures. Then we spent two weeks with our friends in the big island where we took a helicopter flight over the erupting volcano. Bernice still laughs about the old story I told her.

"Our Helicopter Ride over the Volcano