BICYCLE BUILT FOR TWO
SOLIDAY WEDDING PHOTO, 1944.
I’m Just a Lucky So-and-So
— DUKE ELLINGTON & MACK DAVID, 1945
One fellow’s thirst for a beer became Chuck Soliday’s lucky break. The young University of Idaho student was at a Grange dance in Moscow, Idaho, in the spring of 1941. An acquaintance had escorted a girl to the dance and didn’t want to leave her alone when he snuck out to grab a beer he’d left in the car. So he introduced her to Chuck.
Chuck recently celebrated 70 years of marriage with the girl he met at that dance. “I thought, ‘Boy this is it!’ right away,” he said, as he recalled his first sight of Harriet. “She was a good-looking girl.” He didn’t find the girls at college appealing. “At the University of Idaho there were four guys to every girl, and those girls were stuck up!” Glancing at Harriet, he smiled. “So, I went and got myself a high school girl!” Eighteen-year-old Harriet was friendly, sweet and a great dancer. “He got my phone number before the dance ended,” she said.
Chuck, 20, didn’t have a car, but that didn’t hamper their dates. “He had a bicycle,” said Harriet, smiling. “I’d ride on the handlebars.”
They dated for more than a year before he proposed. It’s not that he didn’t want to pop the question sooner, but Chuck had other things on his mind. “The draft board was on my tail,” he said. He really wanted to finish school, so Chuck signed up for the V-7 program offered by the Navy. “They let me finish college,” he said. However, as graduation approached, he had to leave for training and wasn’t able to be there to receive his diploma. Harriet gladly picked it up for him.
The Navy wouldn’t allow them to marry until he finished midshipman school, in 1944. Because of the war, the Navy crammed the four-year school into four short months. “The military needed officers,” he explained. When he completed his training and received his commission, he sent for Harriet, who traveled by train to Norfolk, Virginia. “I arrived at the train station. The train left. I sat there, and sat there, but he didn’t come,” she recalled. She shared her worries with a lady sitting next to her on the bench. When Chuck finally arrived, Harriet burst into tears and so did her new friend.
SOLIDAYS CLOWNING AROUND ON THEIR HONEYMOON, FLA, 1955.
Because it was a weekend, they had difficulty getting their blood tests and obtaining a marriage license. Once they accomplished these tasks, they had to quickly find a place to marry. “We went to the YMCA and got married by a Navy chaplain,” Harriet said. “We didn’t have anyone to stand up with us, so the chaplain asked ‘Does anyone want to witness this wedding?’ and a dozen sailors eagerly volunteered.”
While their wedding, on January 16, 1944, was sweet and memorable, their honeymoon was non-existent. Chuck said, “We got married on Sunday, and Monday morning I was on a troop train to Florida for heavy surf training.” His bride found her own ride and rented a room in a house with another officer’s wife. “I was in charge of small boats and landing craft,” Chuck said. “I lived in a tent out on an island, but I got to see her when I had time off.” During his time off, Harriet had a chance to enjoy the sand and the surf, but mostly they just enjoyed being together.
CHUCK AND HARRIET SOLIDAY ON THEIR HONEYMOON.
In March he received orders to ship out overseas, and Harriet returned to Idaho to wait for his return. Chuck counts himself fortunate. “I got over there before Normandy,” he said. “The Navy had planned so far ahead we had a bunch of landing craft prepared.” He and his crew landed in France, practically on the Riviera. From there they traveled to Marseilles. “I was in charge of three small boats and crews.”
Meanwhile, back home, Harriet waited and eagerly looked for his letters. She shook her head. After only two months with her husband, she endured a 17-month separation from him.
When Germany surrendered in 1945, Chuck finally got a 30-day leave and he and Harriet had a joyous reunion. “While I was on leave they dropped the bomb (on Hiroshima),” he said. “If it hadn’t been for that I would have been on board a ship, ready to invade Japan.” Instead, he was sent back to Norfolk to train other officers, and then returned to civilian life.
Back in Moscow he enrolled in one semester of college. “Just to get my head back into architecture—it had been awhile!” In 1946 they welcomed a son. “We finally got into vet’s housing,” said Harriet. “It was like a whole bunch of little apartments stuck together.” Chuck took a job with an architectural firm in Idaho Falls, and soon after moving, their family expanded with the birth of a daughter.
After nine years in Idaho Falls, a new job took them to Washington state where another son was born. “Every time we moved she got pregnant,” Chuck said. “So when we moved to Spokane in 1955, I said, ‘We’d better stop moving!’” Even with a houseful of kids, they always made time to dance—after all, dancing brought them together in the first place. “We just loved square dancing,” Harriet said. “We belonged to five or six groups.” She delighted in sewing her costumes with full skirts and colorful blouses.
Their talents weren’t confined to do-si-do’s. They also became excellent ballroom dancers and joined a couple of dance clubs. While Harriet favors the waltz, Chuck is partial to the samba. “We had a routine for that,” he said, snapping his fingers and swaying to a tune he hummed.
CHUCK SOLIDAY AT COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY FOR OTS.
When he retired in 1988, the couple enjoyed traveling both at home and abroad. They visited Sweden twice, and on one memorable trip they visited seven countries by bus. Regular bridge games kept them mentally sharp, and Chuck golfed into his 80’s. Their family now includes seven grandchildren and six great grandchildren. “It’s a happy bunch,” said Chuck.
They attribute the longevity of their marriage to working well together. “It’s quite a thing to stay married this long,” said Chuck. “I’m proud of that.” They share the household chores. “He vacuums and makes the bed,” said Harriet. “And he drives me to my hair appointment every week.”
She reached out and took her husband’s hand. “We get along good,” she said. “And I get a goodnight kiss every night.”
LOVE LESSON
“We help each other a lot. Working together makes life easier.”—Harriet Soliday
CHUCK AND HARRIET SOLIDAY, 2010. Photo courtesy Ralph Bartholdt