THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, February 12, 1995 TAG: 9502100236
SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN PAGE: 02 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: Mr. Roberts' Neighborhood
SOURCE: Frank Roberts
LENGTH: Medium: 71 lines
Big Sid the Bull didn't go to the ends of the earth for his lady love, but there was a lot of travel.
``I went from Suffolk to Norfolk by bus, then took a streetcar to the ferry, the ferry to Newport News, then a streetcar that went right by her house.''
It was 1939, and the Christine and James Edward Raynor Valentine's Day story was under way.
He once quit an 80-cents-an-hour job for a 25-cents-an-hour job because it put him closer to his wife - the former Christine Bittner.
``When I first met her - all that curly hair, a yellow ribbon across her head,'' Raynor recalled, ``I said - good Lord, heaven has given a recess and turned loose an angel.
``She got in the car, and I said, `Girl, I'm gonna marry you.'
She said, `You're crazy.' ''
Six months after they met, she and Big Sid the Bull - he was a Shrine circus clown - got married.
Recently, they celebrated their 65th wedding anniversary.
The 86-year-old groom is still a loving husband.
He stopped traveling in 1941 and went to work at Norfolk Naval Shipyard, retiring in 1972.
His wife retired from the telephone company the same year.
And the Raynors and their two pups hit the road.
``We've been lucky enough to have visited every state,'' he said, ``most of them twice.''
The last three Christmas seasons were spent in Myrtle Beach.
How do they decide where to go?
``If it popped in his mind that he wanted to go someplace, we went. Sometimes we'd stay from one to four weeks,'' Christine said.
``One day he read a story about a lady who ran a boarding house in South Carolina. We went to see her,'' Christine said.
The Raynors, who always enjoyed traveling, can recall pre-motel days.
``Hotels and cabins began at $5. It cost a quarter to play the radio,'' he said. ``There was a wash basin in the room, showers were somewhere else and the restroom was in the yard.''
Raynor, a Kentucky colonel look-alike, spends a lot of time in his yard on River Road, ``gardening all summer,'' Christine said.
``When you get married, make up your mind it's gonna be 50-50. That is, let your wife tell you what to do, then do it as quickly as you can,'' Raynor said.
``If you're not gonna do it, leave the house till it's all over. By the time you get back, she won't be mad,'' he said.
That philosophy may not always work, but Christine is a mild-mannered lady who lets her husband do most of the talking.
And, that leads to another secret of successful marriage.``It's the real secret. Talk things over. Love one another,'' Raynor said, in one of his rare, serious moments.
Then it was back to the Raynor we have come to know and love.``If she can't open the gate she can drive over it and I'll put it up. But, if the sink is full of dirty dishes don't ask me to wash 'em unless you're sick.''
Raynor is not into such things.
``One time when she was in the hospital I had one cup, one saucer, one dish, one fork, one knife, one spoon,'' he said. ``I washed 'em after each meal so they were ready for the next meal.''
One seems to be a favorite number - one wife, one big love in his life. ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by JOHN H. SHEALLY II
Christine and James Raynor have been married 65 years.
by CNB