Dianne

Decisions…

There is a bank of memories for each of us. Sometimes, we have to reach pretty far back to retrieve them…but the memories are still there, layered in years of time.

In this case, I’m remembering an early Spring morning when I made the decision to “drop out” of college as a SENIOR. I had been sick and in the hospital for a brief time. I was working and trying to keep up with my college courses in spite of it. Somehow, at the time, it all seemed too much and the only decision to make. I remember even my college advisor tried to talk me out of it. My rationale was that I would return the following year and finish. As it turned out, it would be several years before I would finish a degree, and then, it would not be in English and Secondary Education, but Nursing. Amazing, the twists and turns our lives take.

After that, I took a full-time secretarial position for the Director of Distributive Education at what was then Memphis State University. He was kind and supportive and reminded me of Wally Cox, “Mr. Peepers”. Bill now had the time to study without having to work so much, and I focused on making life a little simpler for both of us.

Windy day. Taken in front of our little duplex as I’m going to work at my new job.

Bill finished his courses, but for some reason, wouldn’t actually walk in the graduation ceremony until August. He took a full-time position with an engineering firm in Memphis. After a few months, they sent him to a little town in Arkansas as the resident engineer on a construction site there. We were young and didn’t have children at the time, so we were elected to go. I had enjoyed my brief time as secretary to “Mr. Peepers”, but I was looking forward to this adventure with my husband.

The great thing about accepting this short three-month stint in Arkansas, was that the company paid for everything: the move, our rent in a brand new apartment, our utilities and telephone. We took advantage of this time to purchase new furniture and a new automobile.

We spent weekends in the Ozark Mountains or touring other parts of Arkansas and Missouri or we’d return home to Memphis for the weekend with our families there. It was a good time for us and we enjoyed our brief visit in Arkansas. The photos below were taken at the Red Apple Inn in the Ozark Mountains of Arkansas. We had intended a fishing trip but ended up here for the weekend. Dinner and dancing and delicious food. For some reason, I had a nice dress with me but Bill had to rent a jacket from the golf pro! Fun memories…

Our first dinner party…

Family, My Southern Heart

Forty-one years later, and I still remember our first…slightly disastrous…dinner party.

Thankfully, I was able to laugh then with everyone else and still think it’s funny. We had invited Bill’s parents, sister and grandmother to be our first dinner guests.

Bill and Penny cutting up as usual. Lots of laughter. Frank, Bobbie and Granny. 1967

As I vividly remember all these years later, Bill and I had spent the morning cleaning our little duplex apartment. It was late Autumn and between classes and working part-time for each of us, there wasn’t a lot of time to do housework. But now, everything was clean and polished and ready for company.

I certainly hadn’t perfected “cooking” yet, but had a few things I could do pretty well by then. I had prepared “Phony Spumoni”, an Italian gelatin salad in a triple tier mold that morning, as well as potato salad, and set them in the apartment’s ancient refrigerator.

Using a covered stoneware pot we’d received as a wedding gift, I’d made baked beans in the oven, and then prepared Southern fried chicken. I don’t remember for sure, but I believe we must have had hot biscuits and a dessert.

Our dinner guests arrived. We enjoyed visiting a little while and then it was time for dinner. First, it was time to unmold the “phony Spumoni”. I took it out of the fridge and turned it over onto a serving platter and a bed of greens. Splatter…splatter…splat…went the top two tiers of the spumoni. The old fridge had not done its job. We scooped up what we could that looked somewhat chilled, but the presentation had lost its effect.

I took the stoneware beanpot out of the oven and set it on top of the old gas stovetop. It burst. Yep. Beans went everywhere.

We all laughed and laughed, then ate what was left intact: fried chicken, potato salad, soupy spumoni and biscuits.

Christmas 1966…

Family, My Southern Heart, Reflections

It was our first Christmas together, and we were starting our own traditions. Christmas would always be special in our family…

Through the years, there have been many elaborate, beautiful Christmas trees…but none quite so special as this Charlie Brown Christmas tree. All that little tree had were colorful paper balls and tinsel.

I loved it just the same…

My twenty-first birthday…

My Southern Heart, Reflections

It was December 1, 1966…our birthday. We had been married since September. It was my twenty-first birthday and Bill’s twenty-third. Looking at the photo here, I’m wondering how many candles were on that cake…quite a few!

Funny how clothing and hair styles come full circle. I wish I had this ensemble I was wearing then now. Soft pink wool vest with covered buttons, an A-line skirt in the same soft pink wool and a white silk blouse. Remember, my Mama was a wonderful seamstress. The only problem is…even if I still had it, I couldn’t get in it! I weighed all of 107 pounds here.

And, yes, I know. The hairstyle is still similar…just lots of silver now highlighted in blonde.

Our first home…

My Southern Heart, Reflections

Our first home was a small, rented yellow brick duplex on a well-kept, tree-lined street. It was located about fifteen minutes from Memphis State where we were both students. It had newly refinished wood floors, a small living room, dining room, kitchen, 1 bedroom and 1 bathroom. There were plenty of windows which let in lots of light throughout.

What it didn’t have was a lot of furniture or the decorating expertise I’ve gathered all these years later. Don’t we always wish we’d known “then” what we know “now”.

Somehow, we’d inherited a used, ugly sofa sleeper that weighed a ton, and Bill made a large square table which held our tiny black & white television set. That was it for furniture in the living room. We laughed for years about that television, for it basically operated on a shoestring…literally. The TV would turn on and operated fine for a while…then the picture would start turning dark. Bill isolated the fuse or whatever in the back of the TV and attached a shoestring to it. When the picture started to turn dark, we’d pull the shoestring and wah-lah! The picture came back on! Years later, there would be televisions in several rooms of the house, but none that brought laughter like that one did. For $35, we’d purchased a used, hardrock maple round table and four captain chairs for the dining room…all in surprisingly excellent condition. Thankfully, I’d brought my new bedroom furniture from home.

We didn’t realize, or couldn’t have cared less, that our little home was sparsely furnished. We were newlyweds and so happy to be together. We were college students and each working part-time. We would study at our dining room table together or at the MSU library. We’d have friends over or friends would have us over. It was a wonderful time…