1st question

1: At what age did you get married? What was it like to be dating/marryng a man that was 10 years older than you? Did your parents approve?

I noticed grandpa one Sunday shortly after he got home from the Army. He was so handsome in a brown pin striped suit. I think I fell in love with him then. When I was in high school we had a youth group that went to other churches in the area to share in their evening services. Something like the worship teams we have now in our churches. Actually I was not old enough to be in this group but was asked to go because I could play the piano. Grandpa was one of the guys with a car. A couple of friends of mine knew I was “smitten” with him so they made sure I was in the front seat in the middle. He told me later that he knew that he would marry me but at the time he figured that he shouldn’t push it and since I didn’t know this it was very painful to see him with other women. I remember one Sunday that he had “Dorothy” (one of the ladies he liked) in the car with him. He told me that he was taking her back to Mpls where she worked. Oh my, was I jealous! !. When we actually started dating I was in my junior year. Grandpa drove an ice cream truck (like Schwan’s) and when I walked home from school I so hoped I would see him coming in from his route. I loved being with him. I was 18 when we got married. My mother was not well during my high school days and dad was very busy with his business so I’m not sure that they paid much attention to what I did. I was always a “good” girl so they probably thought they had nothing to worry about. But I do know that they - mom especially - did not want me to marry grandpa. Mother very much wanted me to go to college because it was always something she wished she could have done. I thought about it but I knew that if I did go to college I probably would not marry grandpa. I never regretted my decision.