MSU Couple Returns to

Hang Their Shoes on

Historic MSU Tree

 

Sam Arnett and Sarah Jane Ginn Arnett, both Murray State University graduates, were married August 27 after a 6-month courtship. While only acquaintances as MSU students, the couple reconnected five years later while living in Nashville, Tenn. Two days prior to Arnett leaving for the U.S. Army basic training in Fort Jackson, S.C., he asked Sarah to marry him. “I knew after 10 minutes of conversation with her on our first date she was the one for me,” he said. “I couldn’t go to basic training without telling her how I felt.”

 

A military police officer, Arnett maintained contact with Sarah while in South Carolina and Georgia. “We exchanged at least 250 letters while Sam was gone,” Sarah Jane said. “We wrote each other every day.”

Arnett’s mother, who lives in Alaska, also exchanged letters with Sarah.  “She sent childhood pictures of Sam and filled me in on his childhood,” Sarah said. “She was very supportive to us while Sam was away.”

After marrying, the couple was stationed at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo. Prior to relocating with the military in Vaihingen, Germany , the couple returned to Murray this past weekend to hang their shoes on MSU’s historic Shoe Tree.  Located in MSU’s quadrangle, the Shoe Tree sports many pairs of shoes nailed to the trunk from former MSU couples who dated while students and later married.

A native of Cerulean, Ky., and an Alpha Omicron Pi alumna, Sarah Jane said both of her parents were shocked at the length of their courtship prior to marriage. “They have been very supportive of us,” she said.