Freddy was drafted into the U.S. Army in December 1953 and shortly after was sent on a ship to Korea. “I got overseas, and she sent me a ‘Dear John,’ so I started writing her,” said Freddy. He stayed there for 14 months, where he spent nine months on the front line.
Verda and Freddy’s relationship continued to blossom, and when he was stationed in El Paso, after being overseas, he would drive to Weatherford, her hometown, every other weekend to visit her.
“We got serious and became engaged while I was still in El Paso,” said Freddy. “I got out of the service in December 1954, and we got married on June 25, 1955.” Freddy and Verda have been married for 70 years. “Just being together and staying together, that’s the main thing,” said Verda.
Once married, the couple got a house together in Aledo. The house burned, and they rebuilt nearby along FM 1187, where they currently reside. “So we’ve been in this same location for 70 years,” Freddy said.
Freddy and Verda were married five years before welcoming their first child, Deanna Goodnight. They later completed their household with a son adopted out of Abilene, Robert Detherage. The Detherage family continues to grow, now accompanying five grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren.
The couple’s lives have evolved over decades together, and so has the town they call home, Aledo.
Aledo was just a small town when Freddy was a boy. “Things have changed,” he said.
It was officially incorporated in 1963, setting the foundation for what it would become today, a city of growth. The official population is not accounted for the year Aledo became a city, but there were an estimated 400 residents in the 1920s. This number has grown to approximately 6,655 in 2025, marking an exponential increase.
Freddy said during the late 50s to early 60s he could have accounted for everyone and where they lived in Aledo, recalling that there were only about 100 houses within a 15-mile radius.
Along with people came changes in schools and businesses.
At the time Freddy was in school, the red-brick schoolhouse, now demolished, housed all grades. Freddy graduated from high school in the year 1950 with a total of 14 others in his class. An Aledo senior graduating class now ranges from 400 to 450 students. To encapsulate the incoming families, the education system in Aledo has grown to 13 campuses.
Freddy and Verda also account for the time where the streets were all gravel in Aledo, and there were not many buildings besides a few stores, a telephone office, a few houses, the train depot, the school, and the church.
As Aledo expanded, Freddy was doing the same, working where opportunity called, building a life for his growing family, while supporting the community of Aledo.
Freddy is a jack of all trades, holding many careers throughout his life. He began working out of high school at the Aledo telephone company and delivering papers for the Fort-Worth Star Telegram and The Fort Worth Press, before getting a call from Uncle Sam.
Once home, his jobs, ranging in time spent, consisted of the Fort Worth Stockyards, Stratex making parts for the government, the Texas Department of Transportation, Walsh Ranch, and an oil company, before he got a job at General Motors, where he would spend 25 years before retiring in 1988.
Freddy is a working man, so he picked back up again, driving the school bus, doing yard work, having garage sales, working on roads for the county commissioner, doing cabinetry, and providing lawn mower maintenance.
Freddy also served the Aledo Volunteer Fire Department over a 45-year time span, 25 of which he spent as chief. Freddy remarked how, during his time with “the fire department…never did any of the firemen get hurt.” The department, having been established in the early 50s, marked a step towards independence for Aledo by providing more timely and efficient emergent care, without depending on surrounding cities.
Outside of working many jobs, Freddy finds joy in collecting objects. “I was bored, I didn’t know what to do with my time,” Freddy said.
He began collecting many items, ranging from tools like a sandblast machine and a drill press to Hot Wheels to the telephone board of the Aledo Telephone Company, and even a switchboard system.
“[He’s] got everything out there,” said Verda. “He’s never allowed to put the cars in the house because we’d have to move out!”
Freddy, the collector, also loves to sell.
“There was a guy who came by one day, and he wanted to buy some [Hot Wheels], so I sold him 500,” Freddy said. “He called me one day and said, Freddy, you got any more cars?… I said I got plenty…So he came down from Oklahoma with a truck and trailer, and I sold him 11,000 little cars, and I sold him 65 big dump trucks and 65 little trains.”
To this day, people still call up Freddy asking to buy an item, and typically, he’s got it.
While Freddy worked across industries, Verda’s career began after motherhood.
Being a stay-at-home mother of Deanna and Robert, caring for their children kept her busy while Freddy worked.
After both children went off to college, Verda was offered a position to work at Vandagriff Elementary School and eventually transferred over to Coder Elementary School and then Stuard Elementary School.
Over a 35-year timespan, Verda held many roles in the school system, from the library to the office as a secretary, and she even spent time driving school buses.
Freddy and Verda are fully retired now and spend most of their time at home together. They have always found joy just being together and doing the simple things, said Verda, and now that’s what they get to do.
Although Freddy worked hard through his life, loyalty runs strong through his character, from marriage to everlasting friendships.
When Freddy was drafted, three other local boys were called with him: William Pual, Jack Phillips, and Gene Cotter.
After spending basic training together, they boarded a ship where they would spend 18 days at sea before arriving in Japan and then Korea after another 24-hour ship ride and 10-hour train ride.
During their travels, knowing they would be separated, they tore a dollar bill into four pieces, and signed each other’s piece. This dollar represented a promise that when they returned home, they would meet at the City Pharmacy in Weatherford, put the dollar back together, and buy milkshakes (back then, one dollar would have been enough for each to have a milkshake).
Life went on for the men.
But, in 2009, their promise to join back together was fulfilled.
William, who passed away in 2006, was there in spirit when Freddy, Jack, and Gene met back up to fulfill their promise to one another.
The three standing together at the City Pharmacy pulled out their dollar bill pieces and arranged it to fit together perfectly–a representation of loyalty and promises kept.
Freddy, who turns 94 on March 13, and Verda, 89, have lived a full life together. From high school, through being overseas, to life back home, the couple has remained constant in each other’s lives.
And with roots that stand firm in Aledo, the couple will continue to live a simple life with one another, spending time with their family, and attending the Aledo Church of Christ.
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