I Do, I Do: Military couple stayed together and on the move

By JUNE NAYLOR

Special to the Star-Telegram

In an age when many young couples devote a year or more to planning and a hefty bankroll to a wedding, the story of Dorothy and Hulen Cox seems terribly quaint, if not downright unimaginative. But the Colleyville couple must have done something right, because they’ll celebrate their 63rd wedding anniversary in December.

Hulen, who grew up near Denton in a town called Collinsville, was an airman serving his second tour with the Army Air Corps in 1946 when he landed at Fort Worth Army Air Field, which later became Carswell Air Force Base. At 22, he’d already completed World War II duty in the South Pacific, serving in Okinawa, the Philippines, Australia and New Guinea, among others.

He was ready to settle down when he met Dorothy Jean Scott, a native of an Amarillo-area town called Goodlett. Dorothy had moved to Fort Worth in 1944. She and her brother lived with their widowed mother in a little house in a new Fort Worth area called Crestwood, just west of downtown. She was all of 18 and working at the soda fountain in the downtown bus station when she caught Hulen’s eye.

He and a buddy, passing through the station on their R&R time, flirted with Dorothy and her friend, eventually making a date with the young women. On Oct. 5, 1946, a foursome that included Dorothy and Hulen went to see a Western at the Majestic Theater. Dorothy remembers being impressed with Hulen, who "was such a gentleman," and Hulen recalls that Dorothy was easy to talk to and "had pretty legs."

She worked the night shift and he worked rotating shifts, so many of their dates consisted of one of them snoozing on the couch. However, Dorothy and Hulen spent most of their spare time together, and even her mother was crazy about Hulen.

"We just kind of decided to get married," Dorothy says. "I’m not even sure if either of us asked the other. We were comfortable and just knew this was what we wanted, until one of the men who worked with me told me I was too young to get married."

The co-worker made her question a future with a military man, so Dorothy broke up with Hulen. When he showed up a week later, Dorothy changed her mind. They went straight to the courthouse for a marriage license and were married by a Baptist preacher who happened to be on site. It was two months and a day after their first movie date.

No fancy reception or wedding trip was to be had for a struggling young couple at that time: Their wedding day consisted of lunch prepared by Dorothy’s mom and an afternoon of washing Hulen’s car. Because the $25 wedding-band set and fees for the license and minister set them back, they had $5 left with which to spend one night in a Jacksboro Highway motel. The next day, they traveled north to Collinsville so that Dorothy could meet Hulen’s parents.

Like all married couples, challenges usually had to do with money. "Living on the salary of that day was a big challenge for anyone, but like all the other folks, we did it," Dorothy says, noting that they lived with family for a while, until they had enough money to rent a bedroom in a house in the TCU area, where they had kitchen privileges.

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