At first, the United States Navy was about the only thing Barry and Ann Grahl had in common. Barry was enlisted. Ann was an officer. They weren’t suppose to fraternize with each other.
Barry was a Christian. Ann was a non-believer. And it was a Bible study class that ultimately united them.
Maybe it was a twist of fate that brought them together. Or maybe it was chance. But now, retired and living in Plant City, the couple can look back on their lifetime of thrilling memories and agree their meeting was an adventure in itself.
After all, that’s why Barry enlisted in the Navy to begin with.
HIS WORLD
“It started when I was a young boy,” Barry said. “In front of the post office was a big sign that said, ‘Join the Navy and see the world.’ I said, ‘That’s for me.’”
In 1951, at the height of the Korean War, Barry’s draft number was called. But his dream for that adventure was jeopardized. He failed the color blindness test.
“I looked at every page in the book, and I never found a number,” Barry said.
The test administrator had never met anyone that colorblind. But he sent Barry with some of his friends to Chicago, for another round of tests. When Barry realized he had to take the same color blindness test again, he started laughing. His goals of traveling in the Navy would never be reached, he thought. The test administrator seemed offended by the laughter and immediately sent Barry on his way — to the next test booth.
Barry had gotten past his biggest obstacle and was bound for bootcamp by the first week of January 1952.
HER WORLD
While Barry was serving in Korea, Japan and China, a young woman he had never met had just graduated from college and was starting a career as a schoolteacher in North Carolina. She had no idea that she would become Mrs. Ann Grahl in just a few short years.
A friend of Ann’s sister had recently joined the Navy.
“She had been in it and enjoyed it so much,” Ann said. “She talked me into joining the Navy.”
Ann entered as an officer because she had graduated from college, which was the only major requirement at the time. After completing a class called Universal Code of Military Justice, in which she was the only woman and the only non-lawyer, she worked in the legal office at the naval base in Great Lakes, Illinois.
“Mostly what I did was for evidence. I would have papers where these sailors would go AWOL, and so all I had to do was show the papers that showed they didn’t report back to duty when they were supposed to,” Ann said.
THEIR WORLD
Barry returned to the U.S. after the war ended in 1953. He had been a dental technician in the Navy, but needed formal education in the field in order to continue serving. He attended school in Great Lakes, Illinois.
There wasn’t a need for overseas naval dentists when Barry completed his education, and he had begun to teach a Bible class at a local church. So he decided to stay in Great Lakes.
Though Ann did not yet follow the Christian faith, she started going to church with another woman who was an officer. And, she started attending the Bible study that Barry was teaching, which is how she met both Barry and Jesus.
“You weren’t supposed to fraternize with the enlisted people, but I did anyway,” Ann said.
She even invited Barry and other enlistees to the women officers’ quarters for a Christmas party.
In 1955, Ann and Barry were married, and soon after, Ann was pregnant with their first child. In that era, women were not allowed to serve if they were mothers of children under 18 years of age.
Both retired from the Navy that year. Barry attended seminary, and the couple moved among Midwestern churches for a few decades. When their daughter moved to Brandon, Florida, they retired in Plant City. Ann also had Florida roots, so the move fit.
Now, Barry preaches from December until Easter at The Oaks, an RV camp on Highway 92.
“I love it. It’s mostly people from Canada, and up in Michigan and Minnesota, come down for the winter to get out of the snow,” Barry said. “They’re from Catholic backgrounds, reformed, Presbyterian, all kinds of churches. But I don’t care about what church they come from. I just want them to know about Jesus.”
Contact Catherine Sinclair at csinclair@plantcityobserver.com.