When Pat Balanky looks back on what first attracted her to the handsome young sailor who would become her husband, she remembers the mail.
“David was stationed in San Diego, and he wrote his parents in Jacksonville every week,” said Pat, then a 17-year-old college student living in Pasadena. “But he would also take the time to write a separate letter to his grandfather, who lived with them, just so that he would receive some personal mail addressed to him. That made an impression on me.”
On Nov. 6, the Balankys celebrate their 70th wedding anniversary and a lifetime of love, adventure and service to others.
Whirlwind romance
The couple first connected in the summer of 1954 while Pat was visiting family in San Diego. Her cousin was a shipmate of David’s, and they met when she attended an open house for the military.
“It must have been the right combination,” she said, “because we got married three months later!”
Shortly thereafter, the couple moved back to Jacksonville and lived briefly with David’s parents, who resided in Springfield.
“After living in Southern California, Jacksonville was a culture shock,” Pat said. “I’d say, ‘Where are the big trees?’ and David would say, ‘There’s one over there – it’s about 60 feet tall.’ And I’d say, ‘No, the big trees – the Redwoods?’”
Soon, David was enrolled in Florida State, where he studied criminology while performing in the college circus. Pat became a mother and homemaker, and when David was hired by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, the young family relocated to North Carolina.
“Dad was chasing down moonshiners!” their son, real estate developer Michael Balanky, said proudly.
David modestly downplayed his exploits, observing that North Carolina residents at the time had a different perspective on the situation.
“They’d say, ‘It’s my God-given right to make liquor!” he recalled.
It wasn’t long, however, before the family returned to Jacksonville. David worked for the Florida Parole Commission and later for The Brink’s Company, which was based on the river in Downtown Jacksonville. And Pat? Well, it seems as though Jacksonville had grown on the California girl.
“I grew to love it,” Pat said. “The people are what you’re attached to, and we had a lot of connections. David’s parents were here, and they were great people.”
Medical missions
When the Balankys’ three children – Vincent, Michelle and Michael – got a bit older, Pat went into nursing, becoming an operating room nurse at Duval Medical. She retired as a perioperative supervisor after 30 years. Along the way, the family relocated to a house in Southside – where they lived for 20 years – and later to Mandarin.
Yet it was Pat’s nursing career that led to what would become a major part of the next chapter in their lives: participating in medical mission trips to Haiti. While serving as a nursing supervisor, Pat had an opportunity to provide some of the hospital’s doctors with surplus medical supplies to take on mission trips. When she and David were invited to go along on one such trip, they embraced the opportunity to provide aid to people in developing countries.
The couple would eventually participate in 22 mission trips to Haiti.
“They say (mission trips) are like potato chips,” Pat observed. “You can never stop at just one.”
In 2007, the Balankys made their final move from Mandarin after their son, Michael, suggested they consider giving condo living a try.
“We were getting older and traveling a lot,” Pat said, “and it was getting harder to find someone who would cut the grass on our two and a half acres in Mandarin while we were gone.”
So, the couple moved into Michael’s newest project, San Marco Place – which ironically, was built on the former site of The Brink’s Company where David had worked for many years.
Shortly after moving into their condo, they knew they had made the right decision.
“We said, ‘What were we thinking?” Pat said. “‘This is like being on vacation!’”
Far from simply taking it easy, though, the Balankys have kept busy. In addition to spending time with their children and grandchildren and participating in mission trips, they volunteered as docents for 10 years at The Cummer Museum, leading tours for school groups. They also participated in personal development programs and, like all married couples, dealt with life’s challenges, such as when Pat was diagnosed with an aggressive form of lymphoma.
“David had to do everything for me,” she said.
Now, as they prepare to celebrate their 70th anniversary with family and friends, they reflect on the life they have shared together.
“It all sounds like it went by in 15 minutes,” Pat said.
When asked if they had any advice for young couples just beginning their lives together, Pat looked at her husband of 70 years and advised, “Marry somebody that you’re really friends with – somebody you’d like to pal around with.”
David, grinning, was more succinct: “Just learn to say, ‘Yes, ma’am!”
