October 11, 1948

Harrison (Boone County) native John Paul Hammerschmidt married Virginia “Ginny” Ann Sharp of Bellefonte (Boone County) following his release from the army and graduation from Oklahoma A&M College. Hammerschmidt was to become the first Republican elected to Congress since Reconstruction days. Before his marriage, Hammerschmidt had received an appointment to the naval academy, requested and was granted a transfer to West Point, attended the University of Arkansas (UA) in Fayetteville (Washington County) during the interim, then decided to forego attendance at West Point to join the Army Air Corps after Pearl Harbor was bombed. Their marriage lasted for fifty-eight years until Virginia’s death in 2006.