Yes, Tom and Barbara M. In the late 60's we had them for lunch after morning field service. My wife was fixing a very simple lunch with ground sirloin patties, a vegetable and bread. Sister M. mentioned that her doctor suggested she either eliminate bread or alcohol from her diet because of her weight problem. Sister M. asked if we had any vodka. No, but we did have a bottle of gin. She dropped some ice into a tumbler and poured at least 4 or 5 ounces of gin. I don't recall if Barbara accompanied us on return visits and Bible studies that afternoon.
I will not mention their last name as these were good people I considered friends. But I do believe that, like many of us, they had a problem with alcohol. A couple of times, their visit was cut short due to "the flue". Barbara usually missed her husband's service talks as she had "heard them all before". She was an earthy sort who occasionally used profanity. Tom was a dynamic man with a missile launcher in his back pocket. His secret weapon was that he had fought at Iwo Jima and some of WWII's bloodiest battles. He was a coiled spring, waiting to unleash on someone who called him a draft dodger, coward or Communist. He would start out calmly, asking in what branch of the military he or she had served, whether they saw combat, etc. It frequently escalated into a Steve Wilkos-like denigration with a demand for an apology. But that's another thread.
tms
