A UNION
© 2004 Lorraine Dahl
She was 15. So grown up! A majorette! A boyfriend of 16 who had quit school, had a job and his own car! He was from Clymer, NY and she was from Corry, PA. They met at the Corry Skating Rink. He did all the fancy skating ands she managed to keep standing and roll. He was so beautiful on skates! He knew all the fancy moves, steps and turns!
Her Mother worked as a nurse’s aide at the Corry Hospital. His Mother worked as a salad maker at the Hotel Corry.
Her Father worked at McGinnes Steel.
His Father worked at a sawmill in Spartansburg.
Two youths were very attracted to each other and began dating.
They would go to the Corry football games and as soon as she came off the field from marching at half time he would be waiting with her coat.
Their love blossomed and soon he proposed. They became engaged and he bought her an engagement ring at Taylor’s Jewelry. A matching wedding band was on layaway.
Then he was with four teenagers who, in a stupid stunt, used a B-B gun to shoot out windows of stores in the Corry area. Of course they were caught.
Her teacher brought this to the attention of the class and there she sat wearing his engagement ring, knowing he was one of them.
She felt in her heart that he would amends for this. She was right but very embarrassed until the furor died down.
Three months later they were married. She was 16; he was 17. Their honeymoon was in Baltimore, MD.
Their first apartment was upstairs in a family’s home. She had to call her Mom to ask how long to boil potatoes.
Their second apartment was on Spring Street. It was upstairs and very warm in the summer, she was very pregnant, and the only relief was evenings on the downstairs porch of outside.
There she went to work on her cooking skills. Her father-in-law would come for Sunday dinner. She used cookbooks and her Mother’s cooking knowledge to make good meals. Every morning she made him a hot breakfast while packing a fresh lunch.
Her ONLY dream was to be a good Mother.
She never dreamed that her girl child would be a redhead like her Mother-in-law!
The husband was gone in 1960 to only appear once again in ‘65. Nearly 48 years from then, she IS a good Mom.
Mom and Linda are still a union, a unit, a force to be reckoned with.
DON’T MESS WITH US! WE ARE A TEAM!!
