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The last time Capt. John Lavrich and his wife Janet (Jan) were at The Niagara Falls Air Reserve Station, The Buckinghams single, “Kind of a Drag,” was #1 on the Billboard charts, the average monthly rent was $125.00, and the price of gasoline was $0.33/gallon.
The year was 1967 and John Lavrich and Janet M. Kaufman had just exchanged vows at the base chapel. Now, five decades later, how would they commemorate this significant occasion?
“We’re not party people,” said Jan. “We didn’t want any kind of celebration. We’d kind of just do our own thing.”
Gail D. Hofmann, Jan’s sister, had another idea. What if they went back to the place where it all began?
John and Jan loved the idea but were unsure of how to go about getting on base. They had tried years before but were unsuccessful. It had been during the heightened security of the post-9/11 world.
Hofmann took the initiative and called her local congressman, Chris Collins. She explained the situation and plans were set in motion.
“We just kind of wanted to see what it was like,” said Jan. “We wanted to come back again.”
After months of emails, phone calls and weather delays, John and Jan were finally returning to the place where their story began. They were coming back to Niagara.
“Things have totally changed,” said John after his base tour. He pointed to a space near the Visitor’s Center, “The BOMARC missile silos were over there.”
(Niagara was once an active duty station and home to the 35th Air Missile Defense Missile Squadron and housed BOMARC surface-to-air missiles. The 35th squadron was deactivated in December of 1969.)
In 1965, Jan belonged to the YWCA of Buffalo. There was a United Services Organization (USO) group that would come to the base for dances and Jan volunteered to chaperone.
“I enjoyed it, I got to know the girls and a few of the Airmen. And then…” she said, “John appeared.”
Like a well-rehearsed pair of stage actors, John, speaking in the third person, immediately picked up where Jan left off:
“John appeared because he was the Jr. Officer on base and he got all the dirty little jobs,” he said with a laugh.
John said that one of the ‘dirty little jobs’ was to make sure that the Airmen didn’t get themselves into any trouble at the dances.
“I had to be there to make sure that they kept on the up-and-up,” he said. “She was there to make sure the girls kept on the up-and-up.”
“We got right in and started dancing,” Jan said, with a bit of a twinkle in her eye. “And all of a sudden, we decided that dancing together was fun, too.”
Shortly after meeting as chaperones in 1965, John and Janet began courting. At that time, the United States was deeply involved in the Vietnam War. By January of 1967, they were engaged to be married and two days later, John received orders to the Philippine Islands.
“For her to be on my orders,” John said, “we had to be married by March 1st.”
“The war changed our plans a little bit,” said Jan.
“It was absolutely devastating that I got the orders just a couple of days after,” said John. “That was a very dramatic thing.”
In a matter of days, John and Jan went from having six months to plan a wedding to a timeline of three weeks. Luckily, the couple realized that they had all of the resources they needed here on base. They would be married at the base chapel.
“Everything fell into place because it was held here,” said John. “We got the officer’s club. The fella who did our photos was an Airman. It was total military.”
“It was beautiful,” said Jan. “Everything just fell in line.”
John left for the Philippine Islands in May of ’67 where he worked in finance as the budget officer. Jan followed four months later and began work as a secretary for the base chaplain.
“We had a wonderful two year honeymoon,” said Jan.
When looking back at the swiftness in which the wedding took place and the rapid deployment, John said it was the best thing that could have happened to the two of them.
“By the time we got back from the Philippines, we were old hat,” John said, “We wouldn’t have changed a thing.”
John had every intention of enjoying a career with the Air Force but it became obvious, that if he stayed in, he would eventually be sent to Vietnam. He satisfied his four-year agreement with the military and joined civilian life.
He and Jan settled in nearby Pendleton. John had a career working for Rich products. Jan continued her secretarial work. They traveled. They restored a home from 1876. They filled their years with memories.
Now in their 70s, they enjoy the simple life that they’ve created. They garden and shop for antiques. They still live in nearby Pendleton.
In my few hours with Jan and John we took a trip down a decades-long memory lane. After recounting stories of early courtship and stories of travel, I asked them the secret to their marital longevity.
“I think that, probably,” said John, “we just like doing the same things.”
“We have the same interests,” said Jan. “And like I said we’re not party people. We love our home and our land.”
50 years later, the Buckinghams haven’t had a hit since, the average monthly rent is $908.74, and the cost of fuel is, on average, $2.31/gallon. One thing that hasn’t changed? The love that John and Janet Lavrich have for one another.
“50 years,” said Jan. “Where did they go? They’ve been some good years.”
| Date Taken: | 12.29.2017 |
| Date Posted: | 12.29.2017 09:01 |
| Story ID: | 260650 |
| Location: | NIAGARA FALLS AIR RESERVE STATION, NEW YORK, US |
| Web Views: | 8 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, USO Chaperones commemorate 50-year love story, by TSgt Richard Mekkri, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
