One summer day in 1993, I was driving a brand new Lincoln Funeral Hearse from Tennessee back to Indiana after helping with a funeral. I was working at Flanner And Buchanan Mortuaries in Indianapolis at the time, and was always volunteering to take the road trips because I was the only non married licensed funeral director at that time, plus I always enjoyed seeing different parts of the country. 

One of the perks that I had with the company, was that my meals were paid for by my employer while traveling. Upon hitting the Indiana state line, I was getting pretty hungry and started to look for a good restaurant in which to eat. When I passed the Henryville exit, I noticed a little red car speeding up behind me. Looking back in my side mirror, I thought maybe I had cut them off, as the red car was traveling at a high rate of speed. When the red car was beside me it had slowed down so we were even.  I looked over and saw a girl starring at me with a great big smile on her face. She had long hair and the prettiest smile. 

A couple of times I slowed down and then she would slow down; I would speed up and then she would speed up. By that time I was wondering what she was doing. Then it came to me that she was checking me out! Maybe she was curious or maybe she had just never seen a cute guy driving a funeral hearse before.  I was thinking to myself, "This is great! No girl has ever even looked my way driving a funeral hearse before". 

Nearing the exit where I intended to stop for dinner, I thought to myself that hopefully she would pull off at the exit that I was and we could talk.  I then decided to pull off at the Scottsburg exit, I look in the mirror again, and she is following me. Then I got scared. I was wondering what in the heck I was going to do. I pull into the Ponderosa parking lot and she pulls into a gas station next door. I thought about what a close call I had just avoided. I parked the hearse, went in to eat, and then drove back to Indianapolis without the girl in the red car following me. 

Approximately 9 months later, a new girl is hired as an embalmer and funeral director at Flanner and Buchanan, (the first in that Funeral Home's 114 year history to hire a female). Her name was Leslie Wilson. I remember thinking to myself, "Wow is her hair short!". Her hair was shorter than mine! Time passed and as we all were getting aquatinted with the new girl, we began talking about where she was from, and how she chose Flanner and Buchanan to work. When she told me that she was from Scottsburg, I mentioned to her that I had eaten there once coming back from a funeral from Tennessee. At that time we just stopped and pointed at one another and said, "that was you in the red car.. and that was you in the new funeral hearse". "Yes it was," we both replied. 

I could not get over the shock. I asked her if she was looking at me and checking me out. She explained that she was NOT checking me out, but was looking at the name plate on the side of the car. Boy, was I embarrassed! I could feel my cheeks getting hot and red. She then told me that she had heard that Flanner & Buchanan was a prestigious place to work and had even told her mom about seeing a hearse from Flanner & Buchanan, wondering if she should talk with the guy driving to see if she could get any information about working there. 

Well, she chose not to come and talk with me then, but Leslie and I were married 2 years later. And, for the record... she WAS checking me out!