Husband offers engagement ring 40 years later

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

— After 40 years, two children and three grandchildren, Linda Whitaker finally got an engagement ring.

In 1969, Linda Sanders and Rick Whitaker met once - briefly - when she worked at Lost Bridge Village Real Estate and he worked for Adcock Drilling in Pea Ridge. He went in the real estate office to use the telephone.

She was a 1968 graduate of Pea Ridge High School. He was a 1967 graduate of Rogers High School.

Nearly a year later - the Monday before Thanksgiving 1970 - he walked into Rogers Pharmacy for lunch.

Linda sat on a stool with a girl friend and another couple, having lunch.

“I liked their Cokes,” Linda remembers. “They had crunchy ice.”

“That guy looks familiar,” she recalls saying when she noticed Rick walk in, only to be teased unmercifully by her companions.

“No, really, I know that guy,” she persisted.

Rick walked toward the group.

“I know this sounds like a line, but don’t I know you from somewhere?” he asked.

The two quickly remembered their first meeting and visited for a bit before Linda agreed to go out on a date the following Friday.

“We went to Uncle John’s (Escue) hootenanny,” she recalled.

“I always went to the singing on Friday nights. I wasn’t going to give up family for a date. I still haven’t.”

Rick added: “We went out regularly from then on.” But “from then on” wasn’t a long time: By Christmas, he proposed.

For her Christmas present he gave her a pearl and ruby ring. A few days later, after proposing, he asked her if she wanted a diamond engagement ring. She said she didn’t like diamonds and the pearl ring would be just fine.

“He knew right away I was a keeper. I didn’t spend much money,” Linda laughed.

Recalling the memory, Rick laughed and hugged her.

“I knew she was a keeper before that,” Rick said.

Over the years, there were bills to pay and children to raise. Neither thought much about many luxuries - let alone diamonds.

Now, the children are grown.

Son Joshua is 32, married and the father of three - Zeke, 20 months, and twin granddaughters, Ada and Claire, born Dec. 3.

They live in Pea Ridge.

Daughter Amy Stokes is 26 and married and lives in Springdale.

The elder Whitakers recently sold their house and built a smaller house for their retirement years.

“We’re finally at a point where we’re not pinching pennies. We still count them, but we’re not having to pinch them,” Rick said.

“I like diamonds now,” Linda said, a wonderful smile gracing her face.

Rick planned to surprise her with the diamond engagement ring she never got. He asked Linda to go on a date for Dec. 23, planning to go to dinner and then to the jewelry store to select the ring.

Linda said she knew something was going on when Amy asked: “What are you giving Daddy for Christmas?”

“Floor mats,” Linda - ever pragmatic and frugal - answered.

“You better up that a little,” Amy told her. Linda said she knew the comment signaled Rick was up to something - but she didn’t know what.

So, the night before Christmas Eve, 40 years after he proposed, Rick Whitaker took Linda to a jewelry store. She picked out an antique-style art deco white gold and diamond ring.

“She chose that ring right away,” Rick said. “She didn’t even look at the price.”

News, Pages 1 on 12/29/2010