Honoring parents on Parents Day

The fourth Sunday of July (the 22nd this year) is Parents Day, a relatively young holiday to commemorate parents. President Bill Clinton signed it into law in 1994, based on a resolution introduced by Sen. Trent Lott (R-Mississippi). Though it’s young in the United States, this commemoration is rooted in a national holiday established by South Korea in 1956.

At any rate, it’s another excuse to honor our parents, which is always a good thing to do. If they’re still alive, gifts and cards are in order. If not, a nice tribute will do.

A favorite story about my parents is how they met. The simple version I used to tell people was that Mama taught Daddy how to fly an airplane. That’s true in a sense, but it’s a little more complex.

The photograph at the top was taken during the first few months of courtship in 1944. This photo of David and Helen Self was taken shortly before he died of a sudden heart attack in 1986.

In March 1943, David Self signed up to become a naval combat pilot. After six months training in California and Texas, he went to Pensacola’s Whiting Field for instruments training. 

That same spring, Helen Huckabee, feeling restless in her teaching job in Vermont, decided to join the military. Three of her four brothers were already serving. She entered the newly established Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service, better known as the WAVES. 

Because of her teaching background, she became a link trainer operator so she could teach cadets and aviators how to use instrument panels to fly their airplanes. The WAVES sent her to Pensacola’s Whiting Field. 

When she was working with the cadets, she would put a hood set up like the cockpit of an airplane with all its instruments over them. Sitting at a desk beside them, she operated the signals to simulate storms, other airplanes nearby, dives and various things that can happen when flying. 

The cadets would have to control the plane by the instruments she had taught them rather than by sight. If the training aviators were on a dive, they’d get the feeling they really were going down. Mama loved challenging the guys, particularly those with “attitude.”

Parents meet at a dance

Not long after both arrived at Whiting, the base hosted a Halloween party for all personnel, an unusual event since WAVES and cadets were not allowed to mix socially. Everyone was excited about the opportunity, including Mama. Having been told by a buddy about this “hot” link trainer he had met earlier in the week, Daddy found her and asked for a dance.

And so it began. As they danced, they talked, finding a lot of common ground. They were both from large families, both had very little money growing up, both were teachers convinced that public education was the future of America, and both came from strong Methodist roots. 

Daddy walked her home the two blocks to her barracks after the party. The next day, he miraculously arranged to get into her link for training instead of the one he was scheduled for. She was surprised to see him, but not at all unhappy.

As he was leaving that day, he turned to her and said “You’re the girl I’m going to marry.” She laughed, suggesting he said that to all the girls.

Meant for each other

Five months later, on the Ides of March, tax day back then, they stood before the granddaddy I never met, the Rev. J.T. Self, in Springville, Alabama, as he pronounced them man and wife. One of Daddy’s brothers had picked them up at Whiting Field and driven late into the night to get there.

Arriving much later than planned, Daddy had to awaken a judge who lived nearby to get a marriage license. The affable judge just laughed and granted the marriage license with no ado. 

A few minutes before midnight, the newlyweds boarded a bus in Springville heading for Birmingham, where they spent their four-day honeymoon at the elegant Tutwiler Hotel.

Happy Parents Day!