Fifty years ago tonight I was dancing with Jacky Palmer at the Camden High School Senior Prom at La Rinconada Country Club in Los Gatos, California. I double dated with my best friend Joe.
Jacky was the daughter of my father's business partner. She wore a green dress that went well with her auburn hair and I was quite proud of her as my date. I wore a white sport coat and a pink carnation, and so that old Marty Robbins tune always, always reminds me of that night...March 31, 1962. I was in love with Jacky but I never told her. I saved the pink carnation for days afterwards, in a glass of water in my bedroom window, until the petals fell off.
Somewhere I have a photo of me at seventeen, in that white dinner jacket with the pink carnation, handing a corsage to Jacky while our parents looked on. I don't have it immediately available in digital form, but I may post it later.
I don't know where Jacky is today, but if you're out there somewhere Jacky, thanks for that date and a fond memory that has now lasted half a century. The song below is dedicated to you.
Saturday, March 31, 2012
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