The Wedding

My name is Becky Pittman. Public records will show that I married Douglas Eugene Pittman Jr. on May 1, 1972, in Elizabeth City, North Carolina.

Our wedding had been planned for Saturday June 10, 1972.

Norview Methodist

We were going to be married in the United Methodist Church In Norview. I had attended the church all of my life; spending summers in Bible School. My Pops was a Deacon there. I was baptized there as a young girl.

The Minister had set up the dates to meet and talk with Doug and me between the dates of May 1 and June 7.

I had already picked out my wedding dress. It was made of Chantilly lace. I had chosen that because Doug played country music; and because that is what had brought us together.

On the weekend of April 28, 1972; I went to stay in Chesapeake, at the home of Doug's parents. That weekend changed the wedding plans.

Most brides-to-be are anxious and thrilled and blissfully happy. I was no exception. I was counting the days that would make me the wife of the man I had fallen head-over-heels in love with.

As the four of us discussed the wedding plans; Doug's parents - mostly his mother - brought up the idea that going to Elizabeth City to get married might be a better option for us; at least financially.

They had a point. No one had a lot of money to throw around. And the bride-to-be and her fiance didn't even have a thing with which to furnish their own home.

All we had was the love in our hearts, for each other.

The conversation filled me with the excitement of imagining that I could be Doug's wife in just two days. It didn't take much to sway me into thinking, 'Did a big wedding really matter as long as I was the wife of the man I loved?'

By Saturday night,we had made the decision to go to Elizabeth City. We would be married on Monday.

I had a dress that would be perfect. It was made of white eyelet. I had worn it for a commencement exercise, so it already had a special meaning.

On Sunday afternoon, I went home and got the things I would need for Monday morning, and came back to my future in-laws home. They would be going with us early Monday morning.

There was one other thing my heart wanted. I wanted to stop by a church on the way to the Courthouse to see if a minister was available to marry us - in the church.

Berea Baptist Elizabeth City

It was Berea Baptist Church. The minister was available and agreed to marry us. Before the wedding, he talked with Doug and me about what marriage meant and the importance of having a Christian home. He then asked something of the groom-to-be that made me laugh.

"Are you going to stop dating," the minister asked of him.

Somewhat taken back he answered, "Well...Yeah."

And although serious with his intent to make a point; the minister replied with a smile.

"No, young man. " he said. "That is something you should never stop doing. You should make it a priority - always - to date your wife!"

to be continued...


P.S. I am sorry to say that my husband never stopped dating other women. He cheated on me many times over the 34 years we were together until he finally left me "homeless" for a 28 year old. They are currently living together in Orlando Florida. I am still the wife of Doug Pittman - though on his websites he calls himself Breck Waters and it seems most recently Gene Pittman., as well.

Breck Waters

The Drummer and How We Met

On Friday and Saturday nights, in high school, my girls and I used to go to Shoneys on Little Creek Road in Norfolk Virginia for a burger, fries and a shake – with rollers in our hair. You knew we had a date with some handsome young man, later on that night.

Some lucky guys would take their girls to a movie - or to watch the submarine races at Sandbridge - if they were really lucky.

But most of us had plans to go dancing.

We would head down to the oceanfront at Virginia Beach, to Peabody’s or the Peppermint Beach Club to listen to the great sounds of Beach Music.

Bill Deal and the Rhondels was the hot band at the oceanfront, along with the Fat Ammon Band.

Bill Deal and the Rhondels

And then there were the shows with the Temptations, the Four Tops - and the greatest Beach music of all - which came from the Drifters.

Life back then was carefree and wonderful; except for those times when every girl had to experience that broken heart - every time she broke up with her boyfriend.
And that was how I ended up at the last place on earth I thought I would ever be – a Country Music Bar.

It was across the road from Shoneys. It was a nondescript building known as the Green Wheel. A variety of country music bands played there, seven nights a week.

My girlfriends used to laugh about country music. The only time they were forced to endure it was when their parents turned on the radio in the car and there it was.

Oh, what torture!

My sister and her girlfriend had talked me into going to the Green Wheel.They told me the bar really was a fun place, so I decided to give it a try. But after 20 minutes of listening to the whine of the steel guitar and that hillbilly backwoods sounding singer, I left.

Two nights later, more out of boredom than anything, I went back.

My sister had introduced me to Wayne and we became really great friends. We both loved to dance and we took charge of the dance floor at the Green Wheel.

It was on one Tuesday night and I was teaching Wayne this new dance that had just come out; when I noticed the drummer in the band kept watching me. It seemed a little odd the way he was looking at me, after the band leader had announced the engagement of the drummer the night before. But I kept on dancing and put it out of my mind.

A couple of weeks later, the drummer was playing the Green Wheel again. It became obvious that he couldn't keep his eyes off of me every time I was out on the dance floor.

During one of the band's breaks, he was sitting at the end of the bar as I walked by him on the way to the ladies room. I saw him turn on the bar stool watching me as I passed by him.

 Green Wheel Days

On the way back to my table, he stopped me to ask my name. I told him; and he introduced himself. Our conversation was brief during which time he told me he thought I was a pretty girl and asked if he could have my phone number. I declined, saying I'd have to think about it.

I did start paying a little more attention to him the rest of the night as he sang and played the drums.
He wasn't my typical kind of guy. I had never dated anyone with red hair and freckles; but when he sang, 'Easy Loving', I got lost in the passion he had for the music he played.

I really wasn't interested in another serious relationship. I just wanted to have fun; and thought dating a musician could certainly be fun - and maybe a little exciting. I decided to give him my phone number before I left that night.

We starting dating shortly after that.

Then one afternoon he called me saying he had something to tell me. I thought he was going to say he got married, but he told me that I needed to know that he was 17 years old and wouldn't be 18 for 2 more months.
It really seemed like a minor detail. At least I knew at this time, he wasn't married and no longer engaged.
So I was 20 years old - 3 years older than Doug was. I thought he seemed mature enough to handle a relationship; and that time would prove it one way or another anyway.

Nine months later, on May 1, 1972, in Elizabeth City, North Carolina; we were married.

to be continued...

A New Beginning

For the first few months of marriage, we lived with Doug's parents.I worked the 3 pm to 11 pm shift at General Electric, catching a ride with a neighbor - as we only had one car. Doug played music in the local bars and on the military bases around Hampton Roads.

He tried working the 7 am to 3 pm shift at G.E. so we could save some extra money and get our own place and a second car; but he always claimed he was too tired and it affected his singing at night - so he quit after a couple of months.

Tommy, the lead guitar player, worked two jobs - but since he had a wife and four kids, he really didn't have much of a choice. John, the bass player, worked two jobs because he liked having the extra money for keeping all of his women happy. But neither one of them had to sing.

It was frustrating for a new wife seeing the difficulties in trying to get ahead financially, living with in-laws I barely knew, and wanting desperately to have privacy with my husband. But finally the day came when we could move out. We found a one-bedroom apartment on Dunedin Road in Portsmouth.

Our apartment was sparsely furnished. We had a couch, and a bed with a nightstand. Everything was second-hand except the new dishes and towels we bought and a Singer sewing machine - that Doug gave me for Valentine's day.
But what we had or didn't have really wasn't what mattered to us. What really mattered was that we had our privacy.

We could walk around the house - never having to look around the corner or over our shoulders - if you get the drift. We could make love whenever and wherever we wanted; and there was no one there to hear us in our heated moments of passion. We truly lived every moment we had together - breathless.

On Dunedin Road, we had begun our new life together.

to be continued...

P.S. Of course it was expected that we would eventually move out of our "first" apartment. But I never imagined my journey would put me in 43 residences in 34 years and 6 states may of them back and forth again and again. But that will be for another chapter in the story of my life.

Breck Waters

Groupies

It goes without saying that without the entourage of female fans, few bands would make it.

While there were some fans who truly loved the band and wanted to be supportive of them; there were the obsessed groupies with their promiscuous behavior who wanted nothing more than to jump in bed with the band.

Some set their eyes on a particular band member whom they wanted to be with. Some didn't care as long as they got laid by someone in the band.

They would watch with unending admiration. They would flirt shamelessly; even knowing that their favorite musician was married - and that his wife was sitting there by the stage.

These girls didn't care. They were band whores. They were on a mission. They really had little self-respect.

But it doesn't go without saying that the band members fueled the fire in these groupies' hot pants.

I watched the girls flirting with my husband. It wasn't something I normally worried about - unless some girl seemed to be crossing the line. And I didn't have a problem addressing any girl, whose behavior was blatantly offensive and disrespectful.

And when I caught my husband's overtly flirtatious behavior, I let him know as well that he had crossed the line and was disrespecting me.

He claimed flirting was a necessary part of keeping female fans excited about the band. I realized that was true to a point; and told him I would accept a level of flirting that was consistent with every female fan - but not to a higher level with some.

While groupies didn't hide what they were after - wives and girlfriends of the band members, who seemed to be busy with conversation and not paying attention - had developed the "eyes in the back of their head' syndrome.

Breck Waters Doug Pittman
to be continued...