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1946
Easter, The Hodiamont Streetcar, The Fabulous Fox,
and Camille
on our first "getting to know you" date.
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Photo credit: Jerry Appleman © 1964 ,2002
Thanks Jerry! |
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This is Bob's version of
the event: On a
Sunday afternoon, April 21, 1946 (Easter), my girl friend of
the moment and I rode the Hodiamont Streetcar to Grand
Avenue in St. Louis to see a movie. We went to the "Fabulous
Fox" to see Dorothy
McGuire in "The Spiral Staircase".
Two way transportation
expense was four dimes. Total cost of our first date
was less than $3.00. This included the all important
popcorn. (No beverages were allowed in theaters at
that time.)
On this day, I was 15 and
Camille was 14, and it was uncommon in that day
and time for either us to be unaccompanied by some of our
friends or relatives. Group trips were the order of
the day for sure.
The girl friend of then
and I will celebrate our 61st wedding anniversary this year.
(2011)
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This
was the REAL first date!
This story did not
start with our first date, that was the following week, April 28,
1946, and I did not
create that date.!
Camille, the NEW girl at school asked me
for our first date and that made me nervous. She
asked me to go to a picnic at Forest Park the week
after Easter with her ex-classmates from one of the
big city schools! Everyone else including the girl I was with were
strangers! I would be too shy to even talk!
As scary as the situation was I could have said
no. I am glad I said yes.
This story
is about memories of growing up in the 1940s in a
small blue collar suburb touching the city limits of St. Louis.
Memories, good memories that grow brighter and more
important to us with time.
Camille's
story . . .
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click to image to
enlarge |
The Picnic in
Forest Park Saturday April 26, 1946
Click on photo
to enlarge
Click photos
to increase size
First "date" , plus
55 years!
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This is
Camille's version of the event:
I Loved going to Wellston High – It
was a newer school building -- very small – where
all the students were friendly and I liked the
teachers and the classes. Well, not really – I was
scheduled to take the Speech class, and since I was
extremely shy I did only what was required and did
not get up in the front of the class if I could
avoid it. The best thing about Wellston High
was my Civics class because that’s where I met Bob.
I liked him immediately – he was so cute, and
everyone in the class was his friend (especially the
girls) He wasn’t “smart Alec” like a lot of the boys
– just friendly and fun.
My friends from Beaumont called to let me know they
were having a picnic at Forest Park and wanted Me to
come. I hadn’t seen them since starting school in
Wellston. I wanted to impress them that I was having
fun, and had a boyfriend, and decided to ask BOB if
he would go with me. We were in the same Civics
class and really were not dating, but he said yes.
I was extremely shy and still don’t know
where I got the courage to ask him out – guess it
was just meant to be. He said he would go – then
asked me out before the picnic so we could get to
know each other. We dated off and on through high
school. THE REST IS HISTORY – WE MARRIED AND
LIVED HAPPILY EVER AFTER. |
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Looking back at this, surviving the teenage years was not
all that bad.
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