Marlon was a twenty-four-year-old Catholic, home from the military, and living in Toledo, Ohio; Delores was eighteen, beautiful, and a member of the Lord’s church. “I was crazy about her from the beginning and asked her to marry me on our second date.” She refused. He kept asking. She kept refusing. “We have too many differences,” she said, “mostly because you’re Catholic.”<\/p>\n
He worked hard at winning her over by winning over her parents. His persistence finally paid off as she accepted his proposal. Her parents were uneasy about the marriage although he promised them (and her) that he would make sure Delores got to church each week. “I was not the least bit interested in going with her,” he reminisces today, “but I would not stand in her way.”<\/p>\n
Sort of.<\/p>\n
“I drank some in those days, ” he admits. Marlon would often keep Delores out late on Saturday nights in the hope that she would forget about church and they could sleep in. However, she always set her alarm and never forgot. Not once. “Because of my promise, and because she didn’t drive, I would drag out of bed and take her to church – sometimes with a hang-over from the night before.”<\/p>\n
The scene replayed itself for a couple of years – “my dropping her at the church building while I went to a restaurant to drink coffee and wait.” Eventually, Marlon eased up on the drinking and began to think: “What does she have that I’m missing?” One Sunday, he dropped her off, but instead of following the usual routine, he slipped into the back of the building and watched the service. “She had no idea I was even there,” he says.<\/p>\n
Finally, he started going in and sitting with her. “I defiantly refused to sing, even though I loved to sing and was fascinated by congregational singing.” One Sunday she caught him humming along and jammed an elbow into his side to make sure he knew… that she knew. “To this day I can still feel her jab,” he adds with a grin.<\/p>\n
“Thinking back on it, I knew that if she missed one time, I had her. But she never did.” Eventually, her church friends became his friends. “One fellow began to take an interest in me and we played golf together for the entire summer – although he never mentioned religion to me at all.” The two became close and as winter approached and the golf season ended, his friend asked, “Do you have a Catholic Bible so we can compare?” Marlon did and was more than eager to show his wife’s church friend, and his golf friend, “a thing or two.”<\/p>\n
They studied together. “Just like Delores,” he notes, “he never pushed.” “We just studied and talked.” He then adds, “I think one of the reasons the studies went so well was because he had taken the time to first become my friend.” Marlon told a neighbor by the name of Darrell (whose wife was also a Christian although he wasn’t) about the study, and Darrell joined in also.<\/p>\n
“One Sunday after Darrell and I had talked and knew what we needed to do, we both came forward during the invitation song. Neither of our wives knew of our decision and you can imagine the look on their faces – we totally surprised them!”<\/p>\n
“Delores and I were married for forty-seven years until she passed away in April 2004. I am ashamed of the way I treated her in those early days – trying everything I could to get her to quit her faith.” But Delores didn’t quit. “Her godly example changed my whole life!” He then adds with an aching sigh, “I sure miss having her.”<\/p>\n
I am reminded of I Peter 3:1-2 – “In the same way, you wives, be submissive to your own husbands so that even if any of them are disobedient to the word, they may be won without a word by the behavior of their wives, and they observe your chaste and respectful behavior.<\/em>“<\/p>\n It works.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Marlon Ruck as told to Wilson Adams via\u00a0Biblical Insights, Volume 9, Number 6, June 2009 Marlon was a twenty-four-year-old Catholic, home from the military, and living in Toledo, Ohio; Delores was eighteen, beautiful, and a member of the Lord’s church. “I was crazy about her from the beginning and asked her to marry me…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[353,451,82],"class_list":["post-59547","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-influence","tag-teaching","tag-womens-roles"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":42381,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/my-mother-threatens-not-to-attend-my-wedding-if-i-marry-my-catholic-boyfriend\/","url_meta":{"origin":59547,"position":0},"title":"My mother threatens not to attend my wedding if I marry my Catholic boyfriend","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 29, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi, I am a 20-year-old daughter and student, currently living with my mother. I have a brother whose age isn't far different than mine. My parents divorced when we were little, and my mother gained custody of both of us. We've been living together since. She is a proud\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":40967,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/even-though-i-am-no-longer-a-catholic-my-boyfriends-mother-insists-that-he-cannot-marry-a-catholic-or-a-former-catholic\/","url_meta":{"origin":59547,"position":1},"title":"Even though I am no longer a Catholic, my boyfriend’s mother insists that he cannot marry a Catholic or a former Catholic.","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 18, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Dear Minister, I have just read your page regarding the question, \"Do you think a Protestant can marry a Catholic?\" It answered some facets of my own question, but it is not exactly what I need to know. I was born and raised a Catholic, but never felt any\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":93156,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/a-friend-doesnt-want-to-think-her-parents-might-not-be-saved\/","url_meta":{"origin":59547,"position":2},"title":"A friend doesn’t want to think her parents might not be saved","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 13, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello, Thank you for all the information you have on your website. I use the resources weekly!\u00a0We visited your congregation a few years ago when we were in Omaha for a hockey tournament. My wife studied with her friend for 5-6 months, almost weekly, and she obeyed the gospel\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":30783,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-a-daughter-at-18-go-to-college-without-her-parents-permission\/","url_meta":{"origin":59547,"position":3},"title":"Can a daughter at 18 go to college without her parent’s permission?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 27, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Would it be a sin to move out at 18 despite your father telling you that you will leave only when he approves? I know a father who will not allow his daughter to leave home until she is married. However, she is mainly confined to her house when\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":16509,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/thank-you-for-the-resources-on-catholicism\/","url_meta":{"origin":59547,"position":4},"title":"Thank you for the resources on Catholicism","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 6, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Greetings. I am writing to thank you for all the wonderful lessons on Catholicism that you have on your site.\u00a0 I have been dating someone who came from a Catholic background, and although he went through the Catholic school system, he is learning that he doesn't know anything about\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":24408,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-do-i-reach-an-elderly-friend-who-is-a-roman-catholic\/","url_meta":{"origin":59547,"position":5},"title":"How do I reach an elderly friend who is a Roman Catholic?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 31, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I was wanting some advice on how to go about witnessing to a Catholic lady whom I know. I am 25 and she is about 75 years old, and we have been friends for about a year now. I was working as a nanny down the street from her\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59547","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=59547"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59547\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59547"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59547"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59547"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}