From the Land Down Under to the Rising Sun

June and Milton got married in early December of 1946. With that anniversary date in mind, I wanted to launch this blog and dedicate this first post to the story of how they met and fell in love.

Mom and Dad both wrote about this important moment in their own words and those paragraphs will follow but I wanted to add first hand recollection of Mom telling the story to Elaine, Allison and me in person. This is because her written account does not quite do justice to the heartwarming sparkle in her eyes as she remembered this sweet memory. In 2015, about seven months after Dad had passed away, Elaine, Allison and I took Mom up to Port Douglas, Queensland for a three-day mini getaway. It was meant to be a small distraction from the loss of her husband of 68 years. It was a thrill to see Mom giddy with excitement doing something completely out of character for her – taking a holiday and doing zero work! As soon as we arrived at our destination, we headed to lunch at an outdoor café on the main street. I vividly see us now, three generations of “Wayne” ladies having latte’s and sandwiches. Mom was talkative as ever and somehow became reminiscent of the early days with Dad. She recounted to us how she and Dad had met.  When she told us how Dad had called her up and invited her for coffee, she mischievously looked at all three of us and said, “Mind you, I didn’t really like coffee back then, but I said yes anyway” and we all laughed. I could see in her eyes she was back in that moment. She then smiled and said to us mischievously, “What you do for love…”

June:

In 1945 a young man I admired named Milton was starting Christian Youth Camps for his Open Brethren denomination and I volunteered to help him. Early 1946 he phoned Sydney Hospital Nurses Quarters and asked me out to coffee. To tell you the truth I never drank coffee. We were British in those days and drank tea like the English. However, I agreed to go out for coffee. On our second meeting I told him that I could only marry a man who also was called to go overseas to tell people about Jesus. I discovered that he also had a desire to do so. We were not sure where to go but asked God to guide us

Milton:

For years I lived with a dread of going to the altar with the wrong person [but] I knew I would not make a move again until the Lord made it vividly clear. One early morning, while I was praying, the Lord lifted the load from my heart and whispered: “Everything is on track; this year you will find her.”

One of the volunteers from my first appeal for volunteers with the camp work was June Furner. One night we worked late together preparing letters and instructions for prospective campers. We walked to her bus together but that was all. I also noticed her at our downtown street meetings. There was something alive and serious about her. I saw a fresh zeal shining from her eyes. My cousin met June and then told me she thought we ought to get together. Normally, I would have gotten mad at anyone trying to push me into a relationship, but this was my year and I smiled. I was far too involved in the excitement of the camps and too busy picking the brains of more experienced leaders to take too much notice.

One Saturday night I dutifully attended a Bible Study Conference and June was there. She was a nurse at Sydney Hospital preparing herself for a mission career. For the first time I saw her as a “girl” and  I thought I would invite her out for a cup of coffee after the service but another young fellow kept hanging around us, so I had to invite him too. The next day I called her at the hospital, and we arranged a real date. I will never forget that first night. It was my first real adventure into a romance since entering the Christian world. I was scared. We were both shocked at the difference in our ages. She was 19 and I was 27. But she had grown up fast and I had taken my time. I held her and kissed her on that first night. It was like being in a hurricane for both of us. Until this moment, I had kept my life totally involved in Christian ministry and free from anyone else. Here we were, two dedicated workers emotionally filled with human love. The two emotions swept over me and stunned me and left me feeling like a total complete human.