The Battin’s Love Story

Written by John Yoast
Posted February 14, 2012 at 6:04 PM

Part 1

Growing up in Concordville, PA., a historic suburb of Philadelphia had many
blessings. It was country at the time, not so much these days. I attended
Concord Elementary School, the Concept School, Eastern University and St.
John’s Episcopal Church. Dad served St. John’s as Rector for a bit over 40

years. Throughout my youth, I was aware of Cindee, a girl who was pretty
beyond words with a personality to match. In my youth, she intimidated me
because she was so pretty and outgoing. We were in the same youth group but
didn’t travel with the same group of peers much beyond that.

After Cindee’s college years away from home, she came back to the area. We
worked with St. John’s youth ministry together and became a close couple
during that time. We were at a Faith Alive Weekend in 1985
where we served as youth ministry coordinators. The dating relationship was not in God’s time however and we ended up parting as friends.
The day we cordially went our separate ways, I felt led to purchase six young apple trees and plant them in the
field of the church just above my childhood home. As I did so, I celebrated the relationship that had been and prayed for Cindee. I was very aware of an amazing and bewildering sense of peace, the likes of which I had never known. I didn’t understand it. No one ever knew the meaning of those trees. Whenever I would go back to St. John’s to visit with Mom and Dad and on those sad days when I returned for each
of their funerals, I would visit those trees and think of Cindee, remembering her joy for life and praying that, wherever she may be, her life was going well. I recognized and accepted the fact that our paths would probably never
cross again.

Part 2

In May of 2008, I sat in front of my computer and typed names of guys and girls from my past into the search line
of Facebook. I typed in Cindee’s name and discovered many people with her last name around the world. There was no
“Cindee” but there was a Kaity. Her profile picture was up close enough that I immediately saw the family
resemblance. I stared at her picture and knew that
I was looking at a relative of Cindee. There was no question about it. I had to contact this person and ask about the possibility of he knowing Cindee.
About 12 hours later, Kaity wrote back saying that she did know Cindee and was trying to reach her to be sure that
it would be okay to give me her contact information. A few hours later, Kaity wrote back again. I now had Cindee’s
phone number along with a message saying that she wanted to hear from me. I felt like a nervous teenager about
to call a girl for the first time!
Later that night at the end of May, I called Cindee and we talked for the first time in two decades. We talked by
phone every day for the next three weeks prior to an already scheduled trip to St. John’s to celebrate what would have been Dad’s 83rd birthday. We were reunited face to face on Sunday, June 22nd on the steps of St. John’s.
Our embrace in that moment told the story of the bond which remained from half a lifetime ago. We spent our first reunited hour together in God’s house participating in the Holy Eucharist. A new start can’t be any better than that!
The following weekend was Cindee’s birthday. Realizing
that I had missed the past 23 years worth of birthdays,
I wasn’t about to miss another. I drove from Bowling
Green to her home and surprised her. It was a glorious
weekend. On that beautiful Sunday after church, I took
her hand and escorted Cindee to her apple orchard while
her Mom and Dad documented the moment with pictures.
With each day that has passed, I have come to know
more fully the depth of Christian character and deep
beauty that Cindee has developed over these years. As I
have told her, I say here, “She was a very pretty young
lady then. She is a beautiful woman now.”

Part 3

Well, in case you’ve not yet figured out where this story is going, here
it is: We agreed very early on that when Cindee felt the time had
come, she would tell me that it was alright for me to propose. In

July, she told me. On August 1st, after dinner at the Concordville Inn,
I escorted Cindee to her apple orchard, fell to my knees and asked
her to marry me. Without skipping a beat, she said “I will.” She

gladly accepted the engagement ring that Dad presented to Mom in
1948 and which she wore through 50 years of marriage.
In retrospect, I now understand why I felt led to plant those apple
trees and the peace that I felt as I planted them. Cindee and I were
planning a May 2009 wedding at St. John’s. In mid October, we
realized the silliness of waiting so long when we know that this is well
within God’s plan for our lives. We moved the wedding to Sunday,
November 30th 2008. With St. John’s being such a central part of
our lives, we chose to be married during the regular Sunday worship
on that day.

As for Kaity, she is Cindee’s niece. We are very thankful that she chose to participate in this incredible story
(while being an exchange student in Denmark!). She served as “best woman” (in place of the traditional “best man”)
in our wedding and she will always have a special place in our lives!