Love story: How a flat tire brought together Jim and Beth Valentine

It started with me asking my brother to take my tire that was going flat to the gas station around the corner.

The next day, that same tire was going flat again, so I took it to the gas station and told the young man who came out to help me that the tire was brought there to be fixed, but it was going flat again.

About that time, another guy came out to see what was going on and said he was the manager. I told him my story and he said, “If we didn’t fix it correctly the first time, we will do it again.” I told him not for another $5. He said no charge. I told him I would wait, then he came to me and said, “You know you have more than one hole.”

He fixed all of them, and when I went home, I told my brother about what happened at the gas station. He asked what station I took it to, and when I told him, he cracked up laughing and said it wasn’t the station he took it to.

Well, I felt really bad, so I thought I would buy gas from his station, and when I went in to buy a dollar’s worth at 18 cents a gallon (in 1966, a dollar went a long way), he said my taillight was out and he would fix it for me. I thought that was very nice, only later that night, I got stopped by a police officer and was told my taillight was out. Well, needless to say, I was going to go back and give him a piece of my mind.

When I showed up, he came out to wait on me, and when I told him I got stopped, he said he would fix it and take me out to dinner if it went out again. The next day, I came in and he asked if the light went out. I said no, but I was thinking about kicking it out.

Well, he did take me to dinner, and in about in a month, we were engaged, then married about four months after that on Easter Sunday. He picked that day so he would remember it. What he didn’t think about is that Easter never falls on the same day. This was March, and it will be 59 crazy years this year.

I would do it again at the drop of a hat.