Members of the 'Greatest Generation' have the answers to life's little setbacks

I've met a lot of people in Shelbyville who have influenced me in a positive way, and I've written about many of them in this column. There's one couple, however, that I've only mentioned once, and they deserve more credit than that.

Their story is one that might have made Tom Brokaw's book, "The Greatest Generation," but as it turns out, the task has fallen to me to tell it here.

The war raged in Europe in the early 1940s, and they were young and in love. He was dashingly handsome, and she was sweetly beautiful.

When America entered World War II, he signed up for service, and they wanted to marry before he went off to war.

She was a preacher's daughter, and her father told them that if their love were true, the marriage could wait until he returned from battle. They obeyed her father's wishes, and he left for training in 1942.

He was later shipped off to Liverpool, England, where he and his fellow soldiers prepared for the great invasion of Hitler's Atlantic Wall.

In time, the Allied forces launched the invasion of Normandy, France, and he hit the beach on D-Day with the rest of them. He survived the brutal coastal defenses and went on to earn a total of five battle stars, including the Battle of the Bulge, and was in Germany when the Third Reich crumbled and Germany surrendered.

He came home on a month-long leave, and was preparing to join the Pacific Theater of the war in the fight against the Empire of Japan. It had been three long years, and her father finally consented to their marriage, saying they had waited long enough. They were married in August of 1945, about the same time that America dropped the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, causing Japan to surrender. He escaped his sixth battle star.

They went on to live a life of dignity together, and endured many challenges. I won't tell of their personal struggles and triumphs here, but suffice it say they've weathered enough pain for ten couples. And 63 years later, they're still married and in love, and they've found much joy in their lives despite the bumps in the road.

But what gave this couple the strength to wait those three years to get married? How did they survive all those troubles across more than six decades and still stay strong and together?

They were able to do it because they had accepted Jesus into their hearts. They have lived their lives for the Lord, and they are quick to give Him credit for any success they've had in their lives.

No, they haven't been perfect, and they'll be the first to tell you that, too, but they are two of the best examples of Christians I have ever met. They are my landlords, my neighbors, my friends, and my spiritual mentors.

They are Harold and Jane Corley.

Overall, things have gone well for me in Shelbyville, but there have been some times when I've gotten a little blue, and the Corleys have been there, like family, to give me encouragement. The one thing they have stressed to me is that I have to live my life for the Lord and my priorities will change. I can accept this from them because I see the way they live their lives. They are not hypocritical.

I didn't grow up in the church, though I have always believed there is a God, of some sort. In my youth, I never had reason to turn to God for strength, however, because I thought I would live forever. I also looked for hypocrisy among churchgoers, rather than looking for the positive characteristics of the Christians I knew.

In my thirties, my perspective changed, and I asked Jesus Christ into my heart and was saved. Since then, I have alternately lived for Christ then turned away from Him. I have rededicated myself to Him twice in the past decade.

Since I've been in Shelbyville, I've begun to turn my back on Him again, and as a result, my perspective has been a little cloudy lately. The Corleys, however, have encouraged me to turn back to God and accept his love for me.

I have learned that God speaks to me through others, and I believe He has spoken to me through Harold and Jane, and I thank them for taking the time and effort to point me back in the right direction.

It's time for me to seek spiritual sustenance again.

-- John Philleo is editor of the Times-Gazette. He can be reached at (931) 684-1200, ext. 218, or by e-mail at editor@t-g.com. This column is scheduled to print every Friday.