Professor Andrew Comrey and Barbara Sherman married after only five months, but were together for more than 60 years

By Andrew Comrey

My wife Barbara and I were married for more than 60 years. This is the story of how we met and got married, despite our parents’ disapproval.

March 1944: Newly commissioned Ensign Barbara Sherman arrived in San Diego to begin a tour of duty as a communications officer at the 11th Naval District.

April 1944: As a newly commissioned ensign, I arrived in San Diego to begin a short tour of duty at the San Diego Shakedown Group, pending reassignment to duty overseas in the Pacific Theater of Operations.

On my birthday, I decided to go to an informal dance held at the Bachelor Officer Quarters near the Shakedown Group headquarters. I saw Barbara sitting with several other officers but not dancing, so I went over and asked her to dance. She said she was happy to be asked ““ the officer with whom she had been sitting had just finished telling her all about his wife. After a few dances, I suggested we go to a club in downtown San Diego. At the end of the pleasant evening, I escorted Barbara back to the Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service Officer Quarters.

A few days later, I received my reassignment orders and called up Barbara.
I asked her to go out to dinner for the following evening, telling her I would be leaving San Diego the day after.

But Barbara said she already had a date. I asked her what time her date was coming to pick her up, and she said 6:30 p.m. I told her I’d be there at 6 p.m. and that she should find another officer to go out with her date.

At dinner, I told Barbara that I had been reassigned to the Long Beach Shakedown Group. She said, “That’s not very far away!” and I agreed. But I told her that I wanted to see her before I left.

July 1944: In Long Beach, Barbara and I were out on a terrace overlooking the beach and the Pacific Ocean. I asked her to marry me, and she accepted. We decided to get married as soon as possible and reserved the chapel at St. Alban’s Episcopal Church across from UCLA for Sept. 2, 1944.

Her parents were not enthusiastic about the news and said they thought we should wait until we got out from service. As Sept. 2 drew near, Barbara’s parents said they were not planning to come to the wedding. My mother also expressed concern that we were being too hasty and should wait.

After some discussion, Barbara and I decided to inform our parents that we were going ahead with the wedding plans and hoped that they would attend.

The wedding took place as planned on Sept. 2 with about 25 attendees ““ most were Barbara’s relatives, as mine were too far away. The reception immediately following the ceremony took place at Barbara’s UCLA sorority house Alpha Delta Pi.

1949: After graduating from University of California’s doctorate program in psychology, I accepted a position as assistant professor of psychology at the University of Illinois. So Barbara and I ““ along with our new baby, Cynthia ““ left Los Angeles.

September 1951: We returned to Westwood, where I joined the faculty at UCLA as an assistant professor of psychology.

Jan. 20, 2010: Barbara passed on before we could celebrate our 66th wedding anniversary.

I have taught at UCLA for more than 50 years, and was married to Barbara for even longer than that. We proved wrong all the fears of our family members that a marriage entered into so hastily would not last.

Comrey is a professor emeritus of psychology.