Mama Kat Thursday: A Happenstance Meeting

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This weeks Mama Kat prompt is an interesting one. It's about how my parents met.

It was the winter of 1944.
 Dad was a young sailor home on leave, his first leave, after having spent the previous 18 months on a Minesweeper in the Pacific.
He happened to be on a street car riding back to Minneapolis from roller skating at a rink in St. Paul, when my Mother and her friend, Kathy hopped on. 
Mother just remembers being face to face with this cute sailor in his dress blues, Navy pea coat and smoking a pipe with his Navy cap at a jaunty angle.
The three of them had a pleasant chat during the 40 minute ride and he said he'd be going back to the South Pacific soon and would they care to write? It was widely regarded as patriotic duty to write the servicemen during World War 2, so both girls quickly agreed and he jotted down their addresses. He had to write first, since he didn't know his ship assignment yet. 

Dad/1944
He did write both girls and, for a time, Mother and her friend, Kathy would compare & discuss his letters together.  Mother didn't think her friend corresponded with Dad all that long, but she continued trading letters with him.
Then in later in 1945, Dad wrote Mother that he was getting out of service soon and  coming home to Minneapolis---could they meet up?
Mother agreed and they had a first date to see a Agatha Christie  movie called, "And Then There Were None."

Dad & Mom//1948
By the end of 1946, they were going steady and talking about marriage.
By summer of 1947, he'd found good employment working as radio announcer in South Carolina and by late fall, they were ready to get married. 
Mother was still living in Minnesota, so they each had to get their marriage licenses separately from the states they were living in, then she joined him in South Carolina and they had a Lutheran Minister marry them in his small church.
It was an intimate wedding---just the Minister and the two of them. 
Then they began their new life together.
****

If you're interested in reading my Father's actual war journal, you can go here.



Thanks for Visiting!

Comments

aestamary said…
What an interesting story. My father also served in the USAFFE but in the Philippines. I will certainly read his war journals.
Feb 16, 2017, 7:26:00 PM
May said…
Oh, this was fun. I laughed at the thought of him with a pipe sticking out of what must surely have been a baby face!
How fun to read his letters. Funny that he was giving fix-it info for the radio long distance and offering up the "beauties of boot camp" for his cousin. There is something so sweet in letters from this era. They seem to contain an innocent sincerity that is hard to come by these days.
Feb 16, 2017, 11:22:00 PM
Anonymous said…
That is such a nice story. My favorite thing is the photos. He was very handsome and your Mother so beautiful. Thank you for sharing.
Feb 17, 2017, 7:57:00 AM
John Holton said…
If you have the letters, hold on to them. They're like gold.
Feb 19, 2017, 1:37:00 PM

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