YOU ALWAYS CALLED ME “NANCY GENE” AND I ALWAYS CALLED YOU “GRAMPA” I came into Grampa Roberts’ life during his later years, and he seemed to know that he would have a magical hand in the circumstances that would bring my Mom and Dad together. Here’s how it happened… Eugene was in his early sixties, and partially retired from Western States. It was at this time that he made plans to re-visit some of his Western States’ customers in Puerto Rico. His youngest child, Marjorie, was on her college break, when Eugene asked her to accompany him and she said yes! They arrived at a hotel on the beachfront in San Juan, and within a day or two, while Grampa met with his customers; Marjorie dressed in her bathing suit, grabbed her beach towel, and walked out to the beach. While her eyes scanned the beautiful horizon, she noticed a raft quite far out in the water. Since she was an avid and practiced swimmer, she challenged herself to swim the distance to the raft. Now, as she got closer to the raft, she noticed that a man was sitting there. It was my father, Forrest, of course, but she didn’t know that yet! The first thing she noticed was that he was wearing a two-piece bathing suit, which she thought was peculiar. He gave her his hand to help her climb onto the raft, and after she caught her breath from the swim, they soon became engrossed in conversation. First, she learned that the two-piece swim-suit was still a fad at Tuft’s College in Boston. A few minutes passed, and Forrest told her he was an Army medic, stationed nearby at Henry Barracks in Cayey, Puerto Rico. Somewhat later, each of them admitted that they were engaged to someone else, but they were suddenly very interested in having a future together. By this time, they made plans to swim back to the beach, return to the hotel, and meet later in the ballroom for dinner and dancing. Marjorie was anxious to have Grampa Roberts meet Forrest, since their stay at the hotel would be a short one, and Forrest was anxious for the same reason. In the hotel lobby, Forrest and Marjorie confirmed their plans to meet for dinner in the ballroom, and meanwhile, Marjorie assured Forrest that she would tell Grampa how happy she was, after meeting my Dad. Forrest left the hotel to pick up his tuxedo for dancing, and returned at dinner time to meet Marjorie and Grampa. Nervous about meeting Grampa, Forrest walked in through a more hidden entrance to the ballroom, decided to take a momentary low profile, and stood behind the potted palms so that he could view Grampa, before meeting him.