Well I used to hang out the window. We would go down to Granite High School and go to the second floor. There was great big window. We would stand and watch the guys outside. Gordon would stand there with his buddie's. They would kid him about looking at me. I was looking at someone else, actually.
I found out the other guy was going steady with another girl. His buddy came to me and said "why don't you ask Gordon to the girl's dance. He's kind of shy and won't ask anybody". So I did. I went with a girlfriend and a date. Her date had an open aire roadster and I sat in the front seat and Gordon had to sit in the back seat alone. I had to put my head down under the shield so my hair wouldn't get all messed up. Going home it was the same way. He had given me a gardenia corsage.
Did he try to kiss you:
No. We went together for years without ever kissing. I went with him because he had a nice car...his dad did, and his dad would let him use it. It was a Pontiac, one of those that kind of sloped down in the back. It was a new style. We were supposed to take him to the door. I don't think I did because I think it was windy or something. He didn't know how to dance worth beans! If a boy was ugly but could dance, I would rather dance with him.
So why did you finally let him kiss you?
Because we got engaged.
You never kissed him before you got engaged?
Nope. Before we got married, Gordon and I counted how many guys I had dated...it was 29. When I was working I spent a lot of money on clothes. I really liked pretty formals and some suits...and play clothes. My kids kept some of those. They kept a big black dress that had yards and yards of material in it. And I had a long black velvet coat that had a white collar.
So what convinced you to finally marry him?
Well I just had a feeling that I should marry him. My girlfriends, Jane (Weenig) and Elaine Moss(Monsen), told me Gordon had told them he was going to give me an engagement ring and I over-heard them talking about it on the bus one time.
Had did you feel when you heard that?
I decided I should probably be engaged to him. So when he gave me the ring, I acted surprised. I still think the main attraction he had for me was my boobs. He always liked 'em...I never let him touch them until we were married. Maybe a couple of times just before we were married. I wasn't passionately in love with him like you and Marie were. I just knew I was supposed to marry him. There was a boy from in Texas that was in the service that I met through another girlfriend. I really did like him. But my mom said to Gordon one time when he came to see me, "You better get on the ball...I think she likes someone else" That's when he told his dad he wanted to get engaged. So his dad borrowed some money against an insurance policy and used that to get my ring. Dad said to him, "are you going to get married?" Gordon said "I just want to get engaged".
Then the war came along and he was in the ROTC at the U of U. I loved going to those dances up there! They had pretty formal dances. I liked getting dressed up!
One time we got to go through the Sabre and Blade club arch. I really felt pretty smart then.
How long were you engaged?
Six months. We got engaged in June and married in December.
How often did you date from the time you first saw him until you got engaged?
Oh, just off and on. I went with a lot of guys in between. The best part of our dating is after a dance we would stop at a car hop place and have bacon and cheese sandwich and a vanilla malt. They would bring it to your car, you know. One time your dad wanted to see me so bad he walked clear from Holiday over to our place. (7 or 8 mile round trip)
How did he pop the question?
We had just been to a dance at a really special dance place. All the big bands would come there. After the dance he asked me to marry him. Then the war along and Edith was down in California. We were frozen to our jobs. You couldn't quit for another job unless you had a real good reason. My boss wouldn't accept my excuse that I needed to go to California to be with my sister. He didn't want me to quit because it hard to find good comptometer operators. So I had a doctor write me a letter saying I had to go down there for my health. I wanted to go down there because she had just had a baby (Jim Christiansen) and her husband was shipped overseas. She had a little girl (Anna Christiansen) that needed to be tended. I got me a job over at North Island (by San Diego) at a big airplane base. I would drop Anna off at a babysitter's place that knew her. I drove Edith's car. I had to take a ferry across the lake to the airfield base. I was engaged at this time, but not married yet. Gordon had to go to Fort Sill for schooling.
Sometimes they would have blackout times for fear that planes were coming in for war. That whole island would be black. It was very scary! That's where I learned to love watching the P-38's...that have the two bodies connected at the tail.
When I was going to get married I bought my wedding dress and girdle. I couldn't find shoes cause I couldn't go to San Diego to shop. I had to take the plane to Salt Lake. My luggage got put on the wrong plane and it went clear to Oregon. It didn't make it to Salt Lake in time for the wedding, even my wedding ring, it was on the plane too! So, luckily, a neighbor that had just gotten married, I bot it from her. I had a hard time finding the veil, cause she didn't have the veil. I had to use my mom's wedding ring. It was the first time she had ever taken it off.
I got home on a Thursday night and my friends had a surprise wedding shower for me. Friday we had to scout around to get all these things for me to wear and I had to find some shoes. They didn't fit very good...they were miserable! All my life I have had trouble getting shoes because my feet are long and narrow. At that time I was wearing a 8 1/2 triple with 5A heel.
We were getting married on Saturday morning and I didn't have my blood test because it was in my suit case. So Friday night, late, we had to scout around. He knew a doctor he thought might write me out one. It was doctor that knew us and he knew that we were both virgins and knew that we were going to the temple. I didn't get to bed until about one in the morning.
We had to be to the temple and dressed before 10am so that was a pretty long day. Gordon got a nose bleed in the sealing room! The whole room was full, there was about 18 to 20 people there. They hurried and gave him a bunch of tissues and he couldn't leave so he just had to stay until it stopped. It took about 15 minutes. We used to always kid and laugh about that.Jen and Paul had a dinner afterwards that was very nice...at a restaurant in downtown Salt Lake. There was about 12 of us there. That night we went to a motel...a very popular one...in Salt Lake. The next day we had to take a bus to Fort Sill. We couldn't afford to fly so we had to go a day early. Then we got there and your dad had made an appointment day wrong. We had to sit up in the hotel all night because our reservation wasn't until the next night. I was so constipated, I was very miserable!
The first thing I had him do is go to a drug store and buy a water bag so I could take an enama. (My comment: Not much changed in the next 60 years!) The worst thing about was in my luggage (that was still missing) was a brand new girdle so I had to wear a real old one that I had at home.
Anything you want your grandkids and great-grandkids to know about your early marriage or courtship?
I am glad we were worthy of the temple when we got married.
No comments:
Post a Comment