Page 40 - Amarillo Senior Link Magazine 2020 Spring - Online Magazine

Jessie Marion Kinsey

Best $2 Bet Ever

by Joli Ariola Jessie made friends with everyone in
the room. People could not help but
love her warmth. Jessie loved, and
It all began with a $2 bet. Jessie Yell still does, how Marion is the kindest
was a freshman at Vega High School soul she ever met.
and was playing basketball when Shortly after their courtship got
Marion Kinsey came home from serious, Marion was drafted into the
West Texas University to watch the US Army. He was sent to Ft. Polk,
game and hang out with his buddies. Louisiana for basic training. While
Jessie looked up and saw him sitting on a ten-day furlough, before being
there in his yellow turtleneck with sent to Korea, Marion and Jessie got
his dark hair, and she was smitten. married at the courthouse in Clovis,
Jessie asked her friend, “Have you NM on March 3, 1951. They were 22
seen Marion Kinsey lately? He is the and 18, respectively. He was deployed
best-looking thing I have ever seen!” 21 days later. For 17 months, Jessie
Jessie’s friend bet her $2 that she wrote him every single day.
could get a date with him first, and
from that moment, it was game on! After returning from Korea, Marion
That bet led to almost 70 years of love and Jessie settled down in Vega, with money, they were always rich
and dedication. Texas, where they soon had two in kindness. Their door was always
daughters, Debbie and Connie, and open, offering a warm bed and a hot
Determined, Jessie found ways to tried to farm during a drought. meal.
run into him. She skipped school to Marion then began work as a cowboy,
“help” when his brother, Frank, went while Jessie stayed home with the They both expressed that their
to haul bundled feed, girls. They moved from greatest hardship was their daughter,
hoping for a chance Vega to Dalhart to Connie, who was very sick as a child.
to see him. It took Wildorado before finally Connie had been born with two holes
Marion a few months settling in Bushland, in her heart. She was often lethargic
to notice Jessie as she where they made their and weak, and her lips frequently
was four years his home at Dripping Springs turned blue. They did their best to
junior and his best Ranch for 30 years. provide her a normal childhood,
friend’s little sister. Cowboy wages were $250 not wanting to make an invalid out
Marion was home a month. Jessie took an of her, but her prognosis was poor.
for the summer from odd job here and there Jessie drove her to doctors two or
college and went but mostly stayed with three times a week in Amarillo, with
to eat at the café in the kids and cooked for no driver’s license, because Marion
Adrian - where Jessie all the cowboys. They had had to work. In 1961, Dr. Cooley, who
was waiting tables. all they needed. had performed the first open heart
They flirted (and surgery a few years before, operated
still debate on who flirted more with Marion and Jessie’s huge hearts often on Connie in Houston. She quickly
whom). They began dating on and off opened their home to many relatives recovered, and Marion and Jessie
again. Marion, always shy, loved how and friends. While not being rich were elated to see her experience

40 Amarillo Senior Link