Carlton Black of Mayo probably didn't know that getting sick during WWII was going to save his life.

After training he was scheduled to go to Pearl Harbor to board the USS Lexington as part of a replacement crew. Many in his class of 19 boarded the ship, but he developed the mumps and had to take the next ship out. The Lexington, an aircraft carrier, wound up sinking and Black lost many of his classmates.

"The first thing I did was I prayed and told him thank you for sparing me," said Black, 83, of receiving the news.

"I had some good friends aboard that ship," he added.

On the way to Okinawa, Black and his crew had to dodge submarines and a typhoon.

"When you had a submarine alert the captain puts you on what they call a zigzag course," Black said.

When the crew was alerted to an attack, they would launch a depth charge to destroy the submarine. It would result in an explosion.

"If you got an oil slick coming up you knew you hit him," he said.

Black estimates the waves from the typhoon were 2-3 stories high. For three days the waves rocked the ship so badly the captain had to work hard to prevent it from capsizing.

"It was not fun," he said.

The crew was glad to see dry ground.

"When we got to Okinawa the captain gave a us a shore party," he said.

On the island Black found a Japanese rifle in a cave, an artifact he still owns today.

Black served as a U.S. Navy electrician in the war. A 2nd class electrician's mate, he helped install the first radar on his ship.

"I was just a high school kid and here I was hooking up a radar set," he said.

After less than a year in the war, Black came back to his native home of Wimauma, a small town near Tampa. About a month later he met Geneva, his wife of 62 years.

Geneva was attending school to become an Army nurse in the U.S. Nurse Cadet Corps. But after she graduated, the war had ended and she never got to serve in the military. Geneva became a registered nurse and worked at Tampa General Municipal Hospital.

"I always wanted to help people," Geneva said as to why she chose the career.

The two met on a blind date about a month after Black returned from the war.

"She wanted to date me because I had a camel hair sports coat," Black said, noting that was popular at the time.

The two dated six months before they married.

"We couldn't stay off the phone," Black said.

"Daddy got tired of that," said Geneva, 86.

Black majored in business administration and worked at S.H. Kress & Co., a variety store. The company had more than 400 stores nationwide. He started out as a stock boy, but later managed 27 stores with the company.

When Black was managing a store in Oklahoma, he said Sam Walton walked through the doors wearing overalls and offered him a job.

"Old man Sam Walton tried to hire me," he said.

Black decided not to take the job since he was with a much bigger company. Back then, Black said Walton own only four or five Ben Franklin stores in Arkansas. Walton would not open Wal-Mart for about 20 years.

The Blacks moved to Mayo in 1985 on the property where Geneva grew up.

"It was in the marriage contract to come back to Mayo when we retired," he said.

The couple celebrated 62 years of marriage in February. They have three daughters and numerous grandchildren.

Black serves as the Lafayette County Veteran Services Officer.