Just Getting Started

Ok, enough about my high school years for now. I’ll tell about my high school initiation, parties at the cabin, the serious car accident, and trips to New London, driving the loop, and all kinds of other stuff another time.

A lot happened in the year after graduation! I certainly can’t do it justice in one piece so expect two or three. Up to now I have written about National Aquatic School. That happened the summer after graduation.

That summer I bought a white Dodge Dart convertible. It was a cool car! It had push button drive and a red interior. I loved that car and the girls did, too. Of course, by then I was a one-girl guy so it didn’t do me any good along those lines. But, after driving my parents uninspiring Studebaker it was nice to have a car that impressed. My Dad thought it was a little too flashy and expensive. He was probably right on both counts.

I enrolled at Burlington Junior College that summer and knew I would need a car to get back and forth. My Dad thought I could car pool with others. I probably could have but it just wasn’t very exciting for me.

The summer of 1967 was the summer Becky and I decided to get married. It was a huge decision. The wedding wasn’t until October 28 so we had plenty of time to get ready. I was 19 years old but still had to have my mother come and sign with me to get a marriage license. Becky, at 18, didn’t have to have her parents sign. I still haven’t figured that out almost 40 years later?

I wasn’t much into the preparation but Becky was. She took care of all of the arrangements. We were married in the Methodist Church in Winfield and honeymooned at the Holiday Inn in Burlington, Iowa. Probably not the most romantic place but we went there because I had to go to class on Monday morning.

When we returned to Mt. Pleasant we had to stay at my parents house for about a week before our apartment was ready. That wasn’t the best arrangement for all involved either but we all got through it.

We moved into 305 North Jackson with a bed and two dressers, a kitchen table with three chairs, some appliances we got as wedding gifts. The apartment had a kitchen stove and a refrigerator. It had a huge old oil burning heating stove in the living room.

Billy Jackson showed up about suppertime the first night we were there. He couldn’t seem to take the hint that we were about to have dinner or he was hoping we would feed him, too. I think we finally did. It wasn’t the cozy dinner Becky had planned.

Becky worked at Lauser’s craft and paint store. I went to school and worked part-time for Glanzman’s Printing Company. I made a dollar an hour and worked about 12 hours week. Becky made about forty dollars a week. Needless to say we didn’t have much money. We probably could have collected food stamps but never seriously considered anything like that. From time to time our parents did help us out with food or furniture and since my parents owned the duplex apartment we didn’t have to pay rent. We lived in that place the first four years of our marriage.