His manner didn’t keep her from falling for him
Andrew Wargo’s boots were made for walking — and his footfalls were loud enough to get Barbara Allen’s attention, but she wasn’t saying “Yes” to his invitation to go out just yet.
Andrew had left his job as a pilot and aviation instructor at the University of Mississippi at Oxford to be the principal of the rural Desha County high school where he graduated a few years earlier. He had started that job in August 1966 with plans to leave a few months later for Army Officer Candidate School, but the high school burned, and he promised to stay through the rebuilding process.
In October 1967, Andrew went to visit the school district superintendent, who was hospitalized in McGehee. Barbara worked in the same hospital as a medical records librarian. She heard him coming a proverbial mile away.
“He was wearing cowboy boots, and those boots made so much noise walking down the tiled floor of the hospital,” she says. “It was just obnoxious.”
On a dare from a co-worker, Barbara, a licensed practical nurse, bumped the nurse who was on duty caring for Andrew’s boss, took the tray from her and went into the room where the two men were talking.
“We swapped some sharp barbs at each other as young folks do, and on a whim I said, ‘Well, I’ve got the Jack Daniels …’ and she said, ‘Well, I’ve got the ice …’” Andrew says.
He couldn’t take his eyes off Barbara.
“She was absolutely the most attractive woman I had ever seen,” he says. “She’s tall — 5-foot-7 — and she had long black hair that hung down almost to her shoulders. She had on a pink straight dress with a gold chain-type belt and heels.”
He was pretty sure of himself.
“I was single, 25, and had probably the hottest Mustang in all of south Arkansas. This was in 1967, so a 350 [horsepower] Mustang, that was the first big Mustang,” he adds.
Their chemistry was undeniable, but Barbara, a year older, wasn’t interested in a romance with him. He was persistent, though.
The friend who dared Barbara to go into the superintendent’s hospital room when Andrew was visiting kept encouraging Andrew to call Barbara and urged Barbara to go out with him.
“My friend had known him for a long time, knew who he was, and she thought it would be a good thing for me to go out with him,” Barbara says.
She finally accepted his invitation, and they had dinner together.
“We just clicked,” she says. “Soon after that we just wanted to spend as much time together as we could.”
That proved to be a challenge, because both of them had busy work schedules.
Dates mostly included going out to eat or watching high school basketball games.
“One night we were out on a date,” Barbara says. “We went to a drive-in movie in Monticello, and we were sitting there watching the movie and he said, ‘I think we should get married.’ At first it was kind of a shock, and I asked him if he was serious. He said, ‘Yes.’ And I said, ‘Yes, I think we should.’”
They were married on Dec. 21, 1967, two months and three days after their first date, in the home of the Baptist preacher in McGehee. The superintendent and his wife were their attendants.
Barbara wore a mauve suit she had bought for the occasion; Andrew wore a western suit with, of course, his cowboy boots.
They spent their honeymoon at Hugo’s, a restaurant and motel in Lake Providence, La.
The next morning they drove back to Big Island in Desha County, where Andrew’s parents lived, so they could share their news. That marked the first time Barbara had met his family. Until then, they had no clue the two had been dating.
“My mom was in total denial for several hours,” Andrew says.
She and Barbara quickly became friends, though.
“When the grandchildren came along, well, all sins were forgiven then,” he says.
He and Barbara, who live in Watson, have two sons — Andrew Wargo IV of Alexandria, Va., and Mark Allen Wargo of Warren. They also have four grandchildren.
Andrew went to Officer Candidate School at Fort Benning,
Ga., in 1968. He’s now the business agent for Baxter Land Co.
Though he changed Barbara’s mind about him, he has not changed his style.
“He still wears Lee jeans and Western shirts and cowboy boots every day. I still think they’re obnoxious,” Barbara says. He has closets full of other kinds of clothes, but he still prefers his boots and jeans.
“That’s OK. He’s all right. Clothes don’t make the man. He’s a good one.”
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