Dino and Mary, Rich and Patti. A tail of two couples

Dino Potestio’s daughter Gege sent me a text to notify us that Dino passed away in June  His wife Mary a very good friend of Patti’s had passed away about two or so years ago.  Gege ask us for memories  so we put this together.

Dino and Rich. (A short story - true life)

    Dino and I met in San Francisco at the Army Base called The Presidio. I was back from a one year tour in Korea. 

     We became friends because of a shared back ground. Both farmers me from Michigan and Dino from Colorado - instant friends.  My family was dry land farmers and Dino’s family were irrigation farmers. We had enough in common that we clicked.  We shared a barracks room with 10 other guys and spent most of our free time together. 

 

     Patti and Mary met each other in high school in Mesa AZ. Patti was shy and Marry was very outgoing and they had some classes together in high school. Mary was very friendly she had many friends. They had gym together and they had a big swimming pool where they taught diving from a high diving board. Mary dived in and it was Patti’s turn. She dived in and Mary, watching saw she wasn’t coming up so she dived in and pulled Patti to the surface, saving her life. 

     Mary and Patti were part of the Rabbets dance and marching band. They all learned to twirl cowboy ropes and batons and they were the flag bearers. 

     Mary and Patti worked together in the movie theater in Mesa in the popcorn area. One day the girl that ran the ticket booth was sick and the manager asked Patti to sell tickets. Everything was running smooth until two things happened at once.  The phone rang and just as Patti answered  it a cricket flew in down the front of her blouse and she screamed. The caller was their boss and he came running down madder than a hornet and Patti expected to be fired, but she wasn’t.

     Mary came to Patti and ask her to help her put on a little skit at her church and Patti said sure. So they acted and sang “Oh I had a little chicken and it wouldn’t lay an egg, so I poured hot water up and down its leg. oh the little chicken hollered and the little chicken begged but the darned old chicken laid a hard boiled egg.”

     Mary and Patti didn’t have dates after graduation so they went wading in the city pool (a big no no) but they didn’t get caught.

     After graduation Mary’s family moved to San Francisco California and Mary got a job at Wells Fargo Bank.  Later she called Patti and said if she wanted to come San Francisco her boss would giver her a job at the bank.

So she did!!!

     Late one afternoon on a Saturday Dino and I  went to a movie on base and when we came out of the theater there were 2 girls walking about 20 yards ahead of us. Dino turned to me and said I would like to meet that girl in the green skirt (Mary) I said, well I’m friends with the girl she is with, she is a nurse at the base hospital, let’s go talk to them, and we did. We all decided to go to a pizza place near the base. 

     After enjoying a pizza and drinks together, we took Mary home to her apartment. (I apologize, I must tell you this personal part). Mary invited the three of us in to meet her roommates.  I was the last one in so I closed the door and as I turned around I saw Patti. She was curled up on the couch and I was struck speechless. She looked so familiar to me, it seemed like I knew from her from somewhere but not her name.

     Mary told us about a singles dance at the church and invited Dino and I to go with her and Patti. So come Saturday evening Dino and I went to pick up the girls for the dance. When we got there Mary was ready but Patti was not (she wasn’t feeling well) but she said: you can take my other roommate). Well the other roommate I found was engaged to a young man from Hawaii and she said that she could and would go with me. (Quandary). I didn’t want to take her but I didn’t know how to tell her I didn’t want to go with her with out hurting her feelings. So I said ok. Dino and Mary enjoyed themselves. And finally the dance was over and we took the girls home.

     So I wanted to take Patti to a movie and Dino let me use his car and he and Mary stayed home. Patti saw a huge lighted building up on a hill so I tried to find a way to get there but no success. We missed the start of the movie so we parked and talked for a couple of hours and then I took her home.

     Patti was leaving to go home to Mesa AZ for Christmas for two weeks. Before she came back I was assigned to go on temporary duty at the army base in Barstow California for three months. While there March 15 came around (Patti’s birthday) so I sent her a dozen roses for her birthday. She looked at the card and asked Mary “who is that”!  

     When I got back to San Francisco near the middle of April Dino and I took the girls to visit his sister in Coalinga Calif. She was a school teacher and they had Mexican woman cook their meals and while we were there she made a venison roast that was delicious.

     Dino and I was scheduled to be released from the army the same day. A week before that I went to a jewelry store and ordered a engagement ring and a wedding band. The day I was released from the army I picked up the rings. On the way out of the store I saw a display of jeweled bugs and thought one of those would fit in the ring box. I got one and put him in the ring box and put the rings in my pocket. What I didn’t know was I told Dino that I was going to ask Patti to marry me - Dino told Mary and Mary told Patti and I handed Patti a ring box with a bug in it. She screamed and said “I wouldn’t marry you if you were the last man on earth. PS: I didn’t know Patti hated bugs, Oops. I handed her the rings and said well you keep the rings because if you won’t marry me I have no use for them. 

     I told Dino what happened and he said well you come home with me, you can work the farm with me and maybe she will forgive you. 

So I went to Colorado with Dino and wrote Patti a letter every night and pled my case. I sent songs, I sent cards and one day she called me. She said: “we are going to send Mary out to see Dino it’s a surprise would you pick her up at the bus station and she gave me the name of a little town south of Pueblo (I can’t remember the name now)  then Mary called Dino and sent him to a different small town to pick up Patti, but don’t tell Rich. Then they got Dino’s younger brother and ask him to pick both of them in Pueblo but don't tell Rich or Dino. So I waited for 3 busses thinking maybe Mary missed a connection. When I got back they were both hiding in the barn. After their visit they went back to San Francisco to give their notice and move to Colorado. So those two girls out foxed us. 

So, there you have it in a nutshell. We shall never forget our friends Dino and Mary from Pueblo. Some times let Patti and I know what is happening in your lives. Let’s keep the connection.

     

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