Mrs. Cara Walton:

Q: How long have you two been together? Married?

A: 23 ½ years together. 18 ½ years married.

Q: What was your first date like?

A: We met and then I was gone for two weeks because my family was gone on vacation. So [for] our first date, we went to see Hot Shots! Part Deux at the old 1 2 3 movie theater that is now I think a church out on [Route] 11. And we went to Roman Delight for dinner.

Q: How did you meet?

A:We met at the swimming pool. Mr. Walton was a lifeguard and he had long hair and it was beautiful and purple swim trunks. And I was 16 and Mr. Walton was 18, and I went to visit a friend of mine who was working at the pool and it rained. So, they closed the pool and I was hanging out with my friend and we ended up being able to hang out in the guardhouse together, and we were talking and kind of interacting a little bit, and I kept dropping hints that I might be available that he wasn’t picking up on at all. So I finally made some comment about ‘Hey! I haven’t been on a date in ages’ or whatever, and so he finally picked up on the hint. He asked me out and the problem was that my family was going on vacation for two weeks the next morning. So my friend Sydney said you know ‘Why don’t I take Cara home and you can go along.’ So he followed us back to my house and went in and introduced himself to my parents and he’s like ‘Hey, my name is Bradley Walton.’ My friend Sydney kind of vouched for him. So he says ‘I’d like to take your daughter out tonight.’ And my dad’s like ‘No, because we’re going on a vacation tomorrow, but you can stay for dinner.’ So he stayed for dinner and my dad interrogated him the whole time, and he was still interested in seeing me when I came back two weeks later. Actually, he told all of his friends while I was gone that he’d met the girl he was going to marry and he’d lost five pounds because he didn’t want to eat anything. It’s one of those sappy, disgusting love-at-first-sight stories.

Q:How did he propose?

A:We had had this shtick where we had been dating for a while and he would tell me he wanted to marry me, and I’d say ‘All you have to do is ask.’ And so, after he had graduated from Bridgewater College, I was still going there, and he came to visit me and we kind of milled around the college and we finally got to the snack shop and we got to that point in the conversation where he would tell me he wanted to marry me and I would say ‘You know, all you have to do is ask.’ So he’s like okay, and he pulls the ring out of his pocket and proposed to me in the Bridgewater College snack shop. I was like ‘Ahhh!!’ and I ran around and my friend Angie was in there and I ran over and showed her and it was all very exciting. And then I had a French test the next day that I didn’t get to study for but it was okay because my professor was excited that I was engaged and so I think she cut me some slack.

Q: What was your wedding like?

A: Pretty low key, normal. I think if we had to do it again today it would be a geek wedding. We would have gone with Star Wars and all that kind of stuff. But, when we got married in ‘96, it was very traditional, very lowkey. Kind of small and simple, nothing elaborate. It was nice, we got married at the old Bridgewater Church of the Brethren and we had the reception at the college, a lot of our friends were there. And it was a lot of fun, but it wasn’t anything sort of fancy.

Q: Do you give anniversary presents?

A: We do, we don’t do a lot to celebrate Valentines Day or a lot of that stuff because we’re kind of like ‘Why should I love you any more on any one day of the year than I do during the rest of the year?’ So a lot of times we’ll just do something that we both want to do together and we’ll get  each other something that maybe we wanted, but it’s not terribly elaborate.

Q: What is your favorite trip you’ve taken together?

A: We got to go to Europe in ‘98, before our daughter was born, and we went to England and Scotland and Paris for two weeks. Mr. Walton had never been out of the country before and I lived in Europe as a kid so it was really cool to get to share my childhood with him. So that was nice.

Q: What is it like working in the same building?

A: It’s nice! A lot of people wonder if we get tired of seeing each other. No, I do not get tired of seeing my husband. I enjoy being able to pop down to the library and see him and getting a hug in the middle of the day. We enjoy having basically the same kind of schedule and riding together to work if we need to. It’s very convenient.

Q: How often do you see each other during the school day?

A: During the school day, not often. Maybe one or two times. He will sometimes pop in [to my classroom] and visit me during second block when he’s delivering overdue notices. And sometimes during my planning I’ll pop in and say hi, and after school, but that’s usually it.

Q: How does working together affect your relationship?

A: I thinks it’s good because we get to have something in common. Teaching and working at the school gives us a shared experience. So, if one of us has a bad day it’s very easy for the other to relate. Dealing with students can sometimes be very difficult or having similar issues, so it gives us a common thing to talk about.

Q: Anything else you’d like to add?

A: I think one of the reasons Mr. Walton and I get along so well is that we met when we were really young, and we sort of grew into each other. It helps to have common interests, it helps to care about what the other person cares about, and kind of make that part of what you enjoy doing as well.

Read Mr. Walton’s answers here. 

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