Rachel and Matt Sandidge, 2006 (left). Pat and Paul Jordan, 1960 (right).


Valentines – now and then

Carol Brimm

They say that love is timeless and in the case of two Mustang area couples that seems to be true. Rachel and Matt Sandidge married on June 24, 2006 and Pat and Paul Jordan married Sept. 29, 1962. The Sandidge’s marriage is just 7 months old while the Jordan’s have shared almost 45 years together but their love stories share many similarities while each relationship is uniquely their own.


Rachel and Matt Sandidge

Rachel and Matt met at a Baptist Church camp the summer of 2003, just after Rachel graduated from Mustang High School. On their first date, Rachel says, they went out to eat at Alfredo’s Mexican Restaurant in Yukon and then saw a movie at Quail Springs Mall.

“We saw the sequel to “Fast and Furious”,” Rachel said. “I’ve seen better movies, but it was okay because I was there with Matt.”

The couple dated for two years before Matt proposed on June 20, 2005.

“I thought we were going out for my birthday,” Rachel said. “We went to the Myriad Gardens and walked around. At dusk we were standing looking at fish in a pond and Matt said, ‘Look at this fish’ and when I turned around he was down on one knee and he proposed. It was pretty romantic.”

Matt and Rachel had the first wedding ever held in the new sanctuary at the First Baptist Church of Mustang. It was an afternoon wedding and Rachel says about 200 guests attended. They spent four nights in Niagara Falls on their honeymoon. They both want children, but Rachel says they will probably wait about four years, until Matt finishes Grad school. Rachel is studying for a degree in Elementary Education while working for Robert Crout Companies in Mustang and Matt works for Teton Solutions Group as a Data Management Specialist. Both he and Rachel attend the University of Central Oklahoma and Matt hopes to receive a degree in Geography and work in city planning.

Matt says he admires Rachel because she is really kind and nice to people that he doesn’t want to be nice to sometimes. She says she admires Matt’s strong moral character and appreciates that he works very hard.

“The first thing that attracted me to Rachel was her sense of humor and she has a strong relationship with God. I think I admire that the most,” Matt said.

Matt said the most romantic thing Rachel has ever done for him was the candlelight dinner she cooked for him on their six month anniversary when they were dating.

“I think she cooked spaghetti and green beans,” Matt said.

Matt said the hardest thing to get used to in marriage was learning to sleep with someone else in the bed. Rachel says she is a cover hog and they have issues with the thermostat, but they have a good line of communication and that communication is what makes the relationship work. Matt believes it is important to give in and not be too stubborn.

“If we both give a little it makes it better,” Matt said. “Being selfless makes it work.”

He said, she said:

What do you most admire about him/her?
He said: She has a strong relationship with God. I think I admire that the most.
She said: Matt has a strong moral character and he works very hard.

What’s the most romantic thing he/she ever did for you?
He said: A candlelight dinner she cooked for me on our sixth month anniversary.
She said: The proposal was pretty romantic.

What makes your marriage work?
He said: Giving in and not being stubborn. If we both give a little it makes it better.
She said: Communication

How will you celebrate this Valentine’s Day?
She said: Get take out from Johnny Carino’s, like we did on our wedding night, and watch movies together at home. I might make a really good dessert.


Pat and Paul Jordan

Seventeen-year-old Pat Williams was visiting her brother and sister-in-law in Oklahoma City for a week in the summer of 1960 when she met Paul Jordan. Her sister-in-law had arranged a different blind date for her for each night of the week and Paul was the first to take her out. Pat says she knew immediately that he was the one for her.

“He took me to a church softball game and I sat in the stands and watched while he pitched. He was so handsome. When I got home I told my sister-in-law I didn’t want to meet any of the others and Paul and I had a date every night I was in Oklahoma City. Then he took me home to Watonga so he could meet my daddy,” Pat said.

Pat said a typical date was a drive-in movie at Watonga and Paul was such a gentleman he just swept her off her feet. The couple dated a little over two years before they married. Paul was drafted into the Army and stationed in Chicago for a year while they were dating. He said one night he just asked Pat to marry him. Pat said it wasn’t formal or anything it was just alluded to before he left for the Army.

“I didn’t get down on one knee or anything. We were just sitting in a car one night and I asked her. I didn’t even ask her dad,” Paul said.

Paul surprised Pat when he came home from the Army on Sept. 15 and the couple married two weeks later. Pat says she didn’t even have time to mail invitations, she just called people on the phone and it was announced at church.

“It was a pretty big wedding to be so spur of the moment,” Pat said. “A local bakery made the cake. I bought a dress in Oklahoma City and used the bridesmaids’ dresses from my sister-in-laws wedding the year before. I carried a flower on top of a white bible.”

Pat said there were about 125 people there, many of them friends of her mother, who had passed away while Pat was in college at Southwestern University. The couple had a one-night honeymoon in Clinton, Okla. before she had to return to college. Paul later enrolled at Southwestern as well and the couple’s first apartment in Weatherford cost $40 a month.

“When we got married, all of a sudden I had all of his laundry to do. I was in college and suddenly I had more things to do. That was the hardest thing to adjust to. I finally learned to read and study while I was at the laundry,” Pat said.

Pat earned a Reading Masters from UCO and a Psychology Masters from OU. She was an elementary teacher for 29 years, teaching learning disabilities for the last 17 years of her career. Paul earned a degree in accounting and worked in financial management at Tinker Air Force base. The young couple had a daughter who died shortly after birth and Pat says that was the first real hardship they faced. They waited eight years before beginning their family. They have 3 sons, Ken, Gary and John Paul and three grandchildren, Hunter, Hope and Nathaniel Paul.

Although both worked throughout their marriage, Pat says she took care of the house and children and Paul took care of the “macho” things like car repairs and yard work. Paul was dedicated to attending the boys’ football games and he says he attended 47 games in one year when all three boys were playing.

Pat says one of the most romantic things Paul ever did for her was a diamond ring he designed for their 25th wedding anniversary.

“He hand picked the diamond from other loose diamonds and he designed the mounting. He did this while on a trip to Israel. He was always a romantic. When he was in the Army he wrote me a letter every day. I still have them in a box,” Pat said.

Paul said once Pat surprised him with a candlelight dinner with china on the table.

“I didn’t expect that,” he said. “She used to go hunting with me and carry my rifle. That just showed how much she loved me, to go with me.”

Paul said when he first met Pat he was attracted to her beautiful long hair and beautiful face and she seemed to enjoy doing what he enjoyed doing. He said he admires her for her Christian walk.

“She has a big love for God in raising my boys and knowing their walk with the Lord and supporting me in our Christian home.”

Pat said Paul is a very strong, reliable, faithful and dependable man and she thinks he is better looking now than when she first married him.

“He is a good dad and he loves the Lord,” Pat said.

According to Pat it takes commitment, prayer and forgiveness to make a marriage work.

“When I married it was for life,” Pat said. “If you have problems you have to work it out. You have to forgive each other and enjoy doing things together. I do things with Paul because I want to be with him.”

Paul says he has always had faith in Pat because he could always count on her to be there and take care of things when he was gone and working on trips.

“She has great moral standards. I was a strict dad and she stood behind me. We did things as a family, not as individuals,” Paul said. “If a family has trust in God they can make it, if they don’t they will always have trouble. You have to trust in God to keep a marriage together. You have to work to accomplish everything together and not be self-centered.”

Paul said he doesn’t have anything planned for Valentine’s Day this year but will probably buy Godiva chocolates for Pat and their daughters-in-law and then he and Pat may go out to dinner somewhere.

“I don’t believe in giving flowers,” Paul said. “They are too expensive and don’t last. I want to get something they’ll enjoy as well as remember.”

Pat and Paul will be married 45 years in September.

He said, she said:

What do you most admire about him/her?
He said: Her Christian walk. She has a big love for God.
She said: He is a strong, reliable, faithful and dependable man and he is better looking now than when I first married him. He was a good dad and he loves the Lord.

What’s the most romantic thing he/she ever did for you?
He said: She goes hunting with me and carries my rifle. That just shows how much she loves me.
She said: The pink sweater and chocolates he sent me for Valentine’s Day when he was in the Army.

What makes your marriage work?
He said: Trust in God.
She said: Commitment, prayer, forgiveness and enjoying doing things together.

How will you celebrate this Valentine’s Day?
He said: Buy her Godiva chocolates and go out to dinner somewhere.