I want to tell you a little story about my husband, Ralph, from when we first met because it really shows the man he is.
Faith and family have always been incredibly important to him. On our first date, he took me to a South Carolina football game, and keep in mind, he doesn’t like football or crowds. But he was given tickets to the game and wanted to share that experience with me. The very next day, he asked if I wanted to go to church with him. That was our second date. Church and lunch.
Even in college, when we’d go out to eat or hang out in the dorm, he was always thinking about bigger things. I remember one night, he said, “Let’s go back and look at the Nixon impeachment trials on TV.” He was serious, thoughtful, always engaged, always paying attention to the world around him. He had just interned for Senator Strom Thurmond, and even then, he cared deeply about leadership and integrity.
I’ll never forget what my college roommate told my dad. She said to him just after one date, “Elaine will marry him and he will be a Congressman or Governor one day.”
