Needless to say, we realized that things were becoming very serious and our love for each other was evident. As the time went forward changes begin to take place. On November the 28th i would become 17 years of age. I considered myself an adult even prior to becoming 17. In November i left the drug store and took a job with the Gus Blass Department store. My job started in the boys department and i was to keep the boys clothing stocked on the tables etc. One of the ladies in the dept. was the wife of one of my favorite teachers at West Side Jr. Hi.
She let me train as one of the sales persons on the floor and then i also waited on customers. In December Kathleen started working at the store in the gift wrapping dept. It was in early December when i ask her to marry me. She said i would have to talk to her dad and mom to see if they would consent. I was really nervous when i talked to her dad and ask him to consent to let us get married. I will never forget that day and conversation we shared and his willingness to help us start our journey together. I suppose also, in fact i know so that he would become the father figure to me that i never had.
I went to the jewelery store across the street from Blass and purchased the rings. As i recall the set cost me $60.00 and they let me pay it out in a couple of payments. I remember her mom buying me some nice dress pants and Sport coat. This would also be the very first time in my life to celebrate Christmas. On December the 16th, 1944, we were married. Some of the church folk mentioned to her mom that this would probably be a wedding that wouldn't last. Well, what do you say in situations like that? This December it will have lasted 62 years if we make it till then.
At Blass Dept Store i was making $16.00 per week. On a Monday after we were married i went to the Boss and told him i needed a raise. He said no. I had heard thru Kathleen's Brother in Law that they were needing someone at the National Biscuit Company, Nabisco. I went to Nabisco and applied for the job. The Personnel Manager did not want to hire me since i was only 17. There was a lady in the office that had married at an early age and she told him she would be my guardian so to speak. I got the job and started to work at $22.00 per week. That dear lady, Sarah Henson, became a special person and offered a lot of encouragement. Her husband Bill, would later become the Mayor of Sherwood where we would move to later on. Kathleen's parents had a small garage apt over their garage which we lived in on 22nd street in NLR. Their home place still stands today but the garage apt no longer exist. My work at Nabisco was hard work but it was also a lot of fun. I helped unload box cars of crackers and cookies and also helped in filling orders that would go out by delivery trucks to stores all over the state. We didn't have any of the modern conveniences at home. We did have an ice box and would get ice two or three times a week. We used a card that was placed in the window with the amount of ice for the delivery man to bring up. Life was great and i don't recall having any worries in those days. We didn't mind having to ride the bus everywhere we went. We had friends also who liked to ride their bicycles. I will probably bring this to a close when we get to the year,1950