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I met my husband-to-be, Basil Duncan, when I was
sixteen. I hadn't picked him out for a husband yet, but I kept
my eye on him! In order to do that, I kept trying to fix him up
with my cousin, Lynn Alexander. Lynn was not only pretty, she
was full of fun, silly, Basil called it. Basil was always
more mature than other boys our age. He was friends with my
brother, John, and came to spend the night a few times. I was
busy with school and other things (boys) at the time and Basil
had already graduated.
Cooper was the County Seat of Delta County, actually, the only
town of any size (about 3,000) in Delta County. All the
merchants stayed open until midnight on Saturday nights, and
people came from all over the county to shop and see friends and
neighbors they had not seen all week. Young people circled the
square time after time. Since most people had no telephone, the
kids would meet on the square and decide what to do for
entertainment. Unless you were going steady, that is.
The guy I was with was not nearly as interesting as Basil, nor
was the girl he was with as interesting as me, so Basil and I
spent the evening tossing marshmallows at each other. I was
smitten.
There were some things to settle before Basil and I could get
together permanently, my current boyfriend, for one. *grin*
At Christmas time, we finally exchanged class rings, but then I
didn't hear from him for a while. He had lost my ring and gone
to Oklahoma to earn money to pay for another, he tells all
about that in his story.
And then came Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1942. It was a place
I had never heard of until the Japanese attack. We were faintly
aware of the war in Europe, of course, but we didn't worry about
it. After all, FDR in his 1940 campaign speeches had said over
and over again, "I promise you mothers and fathers that, if I am
re-elected, your sons will NEVER fight on foreign soil!" We
were stupid enough to believe him.
Conscription (later called the draft) had started in 1940, but
it was only for one year. There was a popular song called "I'll
Be Back in a Year, Little Darling." Only they didn't come back
in a year. On Monday, December 8, 1941, we realized for the
first time what was coming. Some of us were crying, and we all
had long faces. Prof assembled all of the high school classes
in the study hall to listen on the radio to the declaration of
war against Japan and the European Axis powers.
On April 11, 1942, Basil proposed. I still had a month or so
left to go in school. We were not allowed to date anyone
outside our class at class activities, so I went to all class
activities with one or another of the boys in my class. They
knew Basil and I were engaged, but they didn't mind, they
probably had girlfriends who were not class members, too. We
just had fun. Today's kids would sue over that rule, but we
didn't even consider breaking it.
One Saturday night, two friends and I were going around the
square and met Basil and two of his friends. Someone had the
price of a bag of marshmallows, so we decided to take them to
the park and roast them.
The last week of school was Senior Week, and Senior Class
members had no classes. Prof expected us to turn up first thing
in the morning, but then we were free to do whatever we wanted.
We had picnics, parties and, one day, we all hitch-hiked to
Cooper to a movie. When it was over, my friend, Ann Hollon, and
the boys we were with were stranded with no way home. Basil was
in town in his uncle's car, so he took us all home.
We didn't have Senior Proms. Instead, the Junior Class gave a tea for us after the Baccalaureate Service. An example of clothing prices: my dress, shoes and hat for Baccalaureate Day cost $2.98 each.
A little about 1942 prices, as much as I can remember. Eggs were 12 cents per dozen, a large loaf of bread was 10 cents. Most hamburgers were a nickel or a dime, cokes a nickel. It cost 15 cents to see a movie at the Sparks (except for "Gone With the Wind" which was 25 cents, and well worth the extra money!) Cherry cokes at Hooten Drug's fountain were 10 cents and a frozen malt was 25 cents. Coffee and butter were a quarter per pound. For fifty cents, you could buy ten pounds of sugar.
I don't remember the price of flour, but Mama could buy a bushel of apples, peaches or oranges from the fruit man for $1.00. Doctors would come to your house then for $5.00, and it was the same price, even if the whole family was sick and had to be treated. Gasoline was 9 cents (white gas) and 11 cents (red gas) per gallon.
Make your pocketbook sick? The problem was finding the coins to buy at those low prices!
I was not aware of anyone being on relief (the word for welfare then) or even whether such a thing was available. People then were more self-sufficient than people are today. They depended on themselves instead of the government and the taxpayers. Even if some WERE on relief, you never knew it, they had too much pride to let anyone know. Too bad the people are not like that today. Maybe some day they WILL find enough backbone to fend for themselves.
One can only hope.
Basil and I were married on November 5, 1942. I was working at
Sears Mail Order in Dallas then. He describes our courtship
in more detail on his
page.
When we knew Basil's induction into the service was imminent, I
quit my job and we went back to Delta County to spend some time
with his mother and grandparents. On April 9, 1943, I had the
sad chore of putting Basil and Gene Oyler on the train for San
Diego and Marine Corps Boot Camp, one of the saddest days of
my life because we had been married only four months.
I went back to work and Basil and I kept the post office busy.
I wrote to him at least once every day and he did the same for
me. I was counting the days until he would be out of Boot Camp
and I could join him in San Diego.
First, though, he got a 10-day Boot leave, which we spent mostly
with his family. It was the last time they would see him for
more than two years.
My class graduated on May 15, 1942. That was the last time I
saw some of my classmates. Others I didn't see again until our
35th class reunion in 1977. Earl B. (Toady) Reynolds was
killed during the Normandy landing. Weldon Moore joined the
Marine Corps. Billy Williams joined the Merchant Marines. As
far as I know, all the others went in the Army. Basil (Bodie)
Gillean was taken prisoner by the Germans, but survived. The
graduates of 1942 had a tough life to look forward to.
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