Mark Okey Decker

The Evolution of a Love Story Mark Okey Decker

Volume 3, containing poems from 1975 and 1976, is the third in a series of poetry books Mark Decker is publishing about the evolution of the love story that he and Molly share.
The years the poems in Volume 3 were written, 1975-1976, were very interesting, exciting years for Molly and me. We had our first child, Mark, Jr; and, I got into law school. President Ford's staff asked me to be a law clerk in the Office of Counsel to the President while attending law school. So, in addition to continuing to manage the White House Health Unit, in Room 11 of the Old Executive Office Building, I had an office in the law library in Room 106 for my law clerking duties.
We loved our little family and enjoyed living off Quaker Lane on Martha Custis Drive in Parkfairfax, Alexandria, Virginia. That little one bedroom, garden apartment was an awesome place to start off our life together. We loved it. Molly was working for Texas Democratic Senator Lloyd Bentsen on his 1976 Presidential campaign staff. Senator Bentsen was running to get the Democratic nomination against Jimmy Carter. I was working for Republican President Ford. Those were congenial, collegial days in political Washington. Democrats and Republicans not only talked to each other but also worked with each other to get legislation passed.
I started my legal education at the International School of Law founded by Dean Braebner-Smith, a genius and dedicated to legus lex and the pursuit of all things related to natural law. The law school has become internationally recognized and is now called George Mason University - Antonin Scalia Law School. Volume 3 takes us just up to December, 1976, just after the 1976 election. Jimmy Carter beat Lloyd Bentsen for the Democratic nomination; and surprise to me, also beat President Gerald R. Ford.