February 5, 2004
..."How and when Walter and I met and started this grand adventure to build the Heffner "dynasty". During 9th grade we were in the same grade, but in different home rooms, so didn't have any connection until we both were in the senior class play. Walter was a pilot in the play, and my best girlfriend was his girlfriend. I can't remember what part I had, but one day I was standing next to the drama teacher looking up at the stage while she was giving instructions to Anita and Walter, and the teacher stopped instructing to make the remark, MY, the two of you make a nice looking couple", and I remember thinking, "They sure do!" Anita was very blonde, and Walter was very dark. Anyway, that was the first time I ever noticed him. Later, when we entered 10th grade in high school, the geography teacher was reading off our names. I recalled the Walter Heffner name from that 9th grade play. That evening when Robert Heffner stopped by our house as he did very ofter, for a short visit, I asked him if he had a brother in my class, and he replied that he did. I jokingly said, "Well, he's pretty cute, why don't you bring him with you sometime?" Bob had a number of girls that he stopped to chat with on his way home after delivering his paper route, but , as I well knew there was only one girl he was truly interested in. Her name was Marjory, but her Mother refused to let her date anyone. Anyway, the next evening when Bob stopped by he had Walter with him; the next night, same thing, and the next night Walter came alone!! That was the start of six years dating each other, except for one year when we broke up after we started wondering if it wouldn't be good to date other people for a change. Anita had been trying to coax me to go out with a someone in her group of friends that she ran around with in a nearby town. Well, I did that just once and didn't enjoy the experience at all. After about a year of that trial and error I happened to bump into Walter at Ganesha Park where I was walking my dog, and he was waiting for his current girlfriend to get out of the pool, so he could take her home. I considered turning around to avoid having to talk to him, but decided that would be too obvious, so as I approached him and said "Hi" he acted as though he wanted to talk, so I stopped, and I was surprised to find out that I really enjoyed talking to him. So, since my dad had recently purchased a new car for Jack and I to drive back and forth to school, I invited Walter to come by sometime and test it, fully expecting him to show up real soon, but he didn't do it. I ran in to him again, and reminded him of my invitation, and he said, "How about tomorrow night?" When I issued the first invitation I fully expected to hand him the keys, and let him go around the block a few times, while I waited on the sidewalk, bu when he didn't come running I guess that piqued my interest, and I found myself getting all dressed up, and talking Jack into letting me take the car, since he was supposed to have it nights and I had it most days. When Jack found out that I was going to let Walter drive it, his remark was, "Good grief, is THAT starting up again?? We drove down to the coast and back that night talking up a storm, and truly making up for lost time. A few days later we knew it was time to cut all other ties and get back to dating each other exclusively. When I went away to school in Los Angeles I have to admit to not being true to our commitment, but it just made it clear that no one measured up to Walter in the long run.
Returning to our high school days, one evening when our family had just returned from a trip, Walter and Bob had come by to see some pictures we'd taken on the trip. Bob, and his friend, Gordon, left to go home to Bob could continue working on his bicycle to make it into a racing bike. Walter stayed for a while and then left for home also. When he got there, Gordon and Bob were just getting ready to try out the bike, so they asked Walter to get his bike out and go with them. Walter and Gordon were just pedaling slowly behind as Bob went streaking by with his head down, as racer do, when a car came around the corner. Bob hit his head on the passenger side just above the door. Walter picked him up and put him on the grass to get him out of the street, told Gordon to stay with him while he ran across the street to a small grocery store to use their phone to call an ambulance, then, his parents. Bob was still alive when he reached the hospital, but died soon after. He passed away the day that he had signed up to start junior college in the Fall. Bob was a fine young man; very talented with a bright future ahead of him. A little tendency to be reckless sometimes/ His passing was terribly difficult on Walter as they were very close. Especially traumatic for his parents as Bob was the third son they lost; two others passed away as young babies before Bob and Walter were born.
On December 7th, 1941, Pearl Harbor was attacked by the Japanese which involved the U.S.A into World War 2. That event gave Walter and I reason to think about becoming engaged, although our intention was to postpone marriage until the war was over. The reasoning was that Walter was certain to go into the Service, and we felt the war wouldn't last longer than six months, anyway. Walter left to go into the Air Force in June, First stop in his training was Texas, and it became apparent, by then, that the war was going to be much longer than we expected, so when he was transferred to Albuquerque, New Mexico we decided it was a fine time to get married since he was going to have a week to come home, and that was the amount of time we had to plan the Big Event! The wedding was quite small with just family and close friends, and held in our back yard. We left immediately afterwards for Albuquerque as Walter had to return to the business of training for war. For one month we stayed at the Wigwam Motel, as it was the only place we could find that had kitchens. At the end of the first month Walter was given prders to transfer to Dalhart, Texas for advanced training in Gliders, and it was recommended that wives not go as it was a very small town with no rental housing. So early the next morning we loaded the car with all of our belongings and I started driving back home to Pomona. Walter marked a map for me as I could traverse the 810 mile trip in three days. During wartime the speed limit was 45 miles an hour, strictly enforced. When I reached the California border there was a very long line of card waiting to cross, so I figured I'd have to wait a few hours there as everyone had to unload all luggage and all other items they were carrying. When I finally got to the front of the line the officer saw Walter's soldier hat on top of the stuff in the back seat and motioned me to drive on. As I started up the engine all of the people who were emptying luggage on the tables looked up and said, "Hey, she just got here!!" Well, it was too early to stop in the next town as my map instructed, so I continued on. Pretty soon I stopped for gas and a couple of soldiers came up to me and asked if I was traveling north, and could they have a ride, as they were going to Hollywood. I told them I was going within 30 miles of Hollywood, so hop in. As it turned out, they were nice company, and I dropped them off at a corner in Pomona about 2:30 a.m. I've often wondered if they saw any movies stars while in Hollywood, as that was their goal. As it turned out, I was the only wife who followed orders and didn't go to Dalhart, as requested. The others found rooms in private homes, while I cooled my heels in Pomona, waiting for Walter to call and say he found a place to stay, which took six weeks before I could get on a train to reunite with my new husband. Dalhart was truly an interesting spot in the Texas panhandle. Our room was in a lady's old house, about 3 blocks from town, which had a hotel with dining room, the only place in town we were allowed to eat, as all others had not passed health inspections. Walter and I had a bed and portable closet in the living room; next to that housed a sargent and wife in the parlor; the landlady slept in the dining room; and another glider pilot and wife slept in the only bedroom, and we all had to go through most rooms to get to the bathroom. There wasn't any hallway. This was in the middle of winter, and when we opted to omit the walk to town for meals through the snow we fired up our friends' toaster and the bathroom heater to make toast and Campbell's soup to eat. Our only entertainment was to play bridge in the evening, even though our landlady told us she would put us out in the street if she caught us playing cards in her house. Fortunately, she spent most of her time at her daughter's house, so we were never caught. Finally, Helen and I asked the landlady if we could pay another dollar per week, so we could have kitchen privilges (Our weekly rent was seven dollars.) She said o.k., so Helen and I started cleaning the kitchen, so we could cook. It took us two days to get it clean enough to cook our first meal. The landlady's husband had passed away the previous September, and she hadn't washed a dish since. The table had half full dishes with green mold on top. Same thing in the pantry. The sink was piled high with dirty dishes, and believe it or not, the landlady was not pleased that we cleaned it all up!
After spending Christmas there, and going into Spring, we were suddenly notified that the entire base was being shut down as there were too many accidents, and we were to move immediately south to Lubbock, Texas. We had less than 24 hours to get down there. Since we didn't have a car, I had to find a ride with another glider pilot, and his wife, as Walter was assigned a glider to fly down to Lubbock. Lubbock turned out to be our home for over three years, And even though our first baby only lived four hours after she was born, making it our saddest event during our life together, it still feels like one of our most important homes.
The next brief stopover was in North Carolina. It was there that Jack called me to come and pick up his car in Virginia, where he was stationed, as he was being sent overseas, so I hopped on a train and retrieved the car. It was nice to have a car again to get around in, and be able to drive to our next destination, which was Sedalia, Missouri. People were especially nice in Missouri, and of all the places we lived I think we enjoyed it there the most. As the war was nearing a close I flew home as I was about four months pregnant with twins, instead of waiting for Walter to be released from the airforce. Looking back on those years, we have so much to be thankful for, especially that Walter was made an instructor, and we were able to be together."