My cousin, Jean Cunningham, had gone into nursing training at Philadelphia General Hospital and that kindled my desire to be a nurse. My father was very much opposed to my going into nursing. I guess he thought nurses were exposed to too much of the sordid side of life. Without his knowledge I took Latin and other required courses in high school, always had my Mother sign my grade cards.
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| Bobby |
I made a lot of new friends in high school, the closest one being Juanita ("Squint") Rhulin. She lived with her divorced mother and brother about a mile from us. My father was very strict with me and I was not allowed to go out with boys. I'm sure he was afraid of what might happen to me, thinking of Honey, Faye and other girls who had married early. I had no desire to get married but was very independent and ambitious. I liked boys but they were not my whole life. I was never seriously involved with any boy during high school days although I had several boy friends. I planned to have a profession and never have to depend on anyone else for my livelihood.
Squint's home was completely the opposite of ours: Squint got very little supervision and could go where, when and with whom she wished. She could bring home anyone she wanted to and her mother was friendly to all visitors. My mother was an excellent housekeeper and kept our home spotless. I seldom brought friends home because our house was small and because my mother would not allow the place to be torn up by kids. Also it wasn't fun because I couldn't bring boys home and therefore the girls none of the girls wanted to come home with me. Also my father would often come home drunk and I was afraid my friends would see him in this condition and I would be mortified.
Squint decided that I could learn to round dance if I would just try. She took me to a dance one night. Mostly single people came, not couples. She primed on what to say if someone asked me to dance- "Fine!" -and dance, don't say that you cannot dance. Well, I did and I must have been some drag; no one asked me to dance the second time except one sweet fellow. I can still remember the mortification I felt when my partner's friend hollered to him when we passed by: "Vince, you're a glutton for punishment." Eventually I did learn how to dance and would go out to dances with Squint and her friends. After Squint and I turned 18 we would go to dances at the Summit Beach dance hall on Monday nights, dance to the music of Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey, Kay Kayser and other leading bands of the day. All of the best dancers would go there and I loved it.
However, when I was 15 to 18, since I was not allowed to go out with boys, I would tell my Dad that I was spending the night with Squint. That was how I was able to go out dancing. My Dad made one exception to his rule: he allowed me to go out with Johnny Lintner. It must have been my first year in high school when Johnny asked me to go to a football game with him. I usually didn't admit to boys that I was not allowed to go out but just told them I was busy. But I didn't care if I got to go out with Johnny or not so I told him I could not go out with him because my father would not allow it. Johnny was the only son of a successful hardware store owner in our part of town. He was short, nice-looking, conceited and overly self-confident. Imagine my surprise the next night, after telling Johnny I wasn't allowed to go out with him, there was a knock at the door, my Dad answered it and there stood Johnny. He introduced himself to my Dad and said he wanted to take me to the football game the following Saturday, asked my Dad for permission. My Dad invited him in and they talked quite a while. Then my Dad called me in and asked if I wanted to go to the game with Johnny. I nodded my assent.
My Dad was so impressed with Johnny that whenever he asked me to go out, I could. We went to parties mostly, playing cards or Cootie, or even dance games. Some of the dances I remember were "The Big Apple" and the "Lambeth Walk." Johnny was OK but he did not pull on my heart strings. At least I got to go out legally: it was him or nobody. After about a year I started going out more with Squint and her friends so did not see much of Johnny after that.
In my second year of high school I was invited to be cheer leader but my Dad refused to allow it. I received lots of invitations to go out but had to turn them down. The Christmas issue of the school paper that year listed those students who were asking Santa for gifts. Mine was "Barbara Evans asks for an adding machine to keep count of her many admirers." At the end of the school year the most popular girl who was graduating willed me- in the school year book- all the hearts of-the football and basketball players.
In my third year I joined the drama club and starred in the leading play of the school year. I was given an excellent review and visions of being an actress danced in my head. However, the next big play that came along and which I tried out for, I was broken-hearted when I didn't get into it. I quit the drama club. I did take part in a musical play before I left school though.
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