Florida couple celebrates 60th anniversary in N.L.
Carl Green met his St. John’s bride while stationed at Fort Pepperrell in the 1950s
After Carl Green left the Fort Pepperrell American base in St. John’s, where he was stationed from 1956 to 1958, he purchased a modest engagement ring and sent it back to Newfoundland by mail to a young Sandra Gordon, whom he had dated while stationed in the city.
Along with the ring was a letter he wrote with fingers crossed, asking her to come to the United States to marry him. She did.
On Friday the couple celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary during a visit to Newfoundland and Labrador. The couple is accompanied by their daughter, Katherine, and granddaughter, Marisa.
“I had a girlfriend who I grew up with, whose name was Margaret Willis, and she lived on Patrick Street and she said to me, ‘Come up to the house. There’s a new Yank in town, let’s look him over.’ That’s how I met him,” Sandra said. “I didn’t like him at first.”
Carl’s charm eventually won Sandra over and the two started dating. Being on the base had some advantages that Carl could use to persuade the young lady — such as a movie theatre.
“That was my ticket,” Carl joked.
Sandra said she loved riding on the bus to the base and going to see a movie with Carl.
“He took me on the base quite a bit because you could go to the movie for a quarter and when Elvis Presley was becoming famous, I got to see his movies before my friends and they were jealous,” Sandra said.
“You could ride on the bus to go in and see the movie and come back on the base bus.”
Construction of Fort Pepperrell began in the fall of 1940. Following the start of the Second World War, American troops at Fort Pepperrell numbered more than 5,500 at times.
There were another 1,000 troops stationed at Signal Hill to operate for anti-aircraft guns and carry out surveillance operations.
After the war, the base was maintained at reduced strength. In 1946 it became an air force base to facilitate operations and maintain communications with the U.S. Navy at Argentia and with Allied nations.
In 1958, the United States began to phase out the base and that’s when Carl was reassigned to California. It was there that he sent for Sandra to join him and get married.
“All I had when I left the Rock was my wedding dress, and a few pieces of clothing and $5 and a few pennies,” she said. “I was 17. My dad didn’t say anything. He didn’t try to stop me, but it took him a long time to like my husband.”
In addition to celebrating their anniversary, the couple is taking Katherine and Marisa to many of the places Sandra frequented while growing up in St. John’s.
Marisa, 23, said this is only her second visit to Newfoundland and Labrador, but she feels like she knows the place well from all the stories she’s been told.
“We’ll be driving down a road and Nan is like, ‘You know what happened at that corner?’ Or she will see a building and say it was where her father took my mother for ice cream.
“For me it’s putting a place to all the stories. I also like hearing all the accents.”