I really enjoyed the courses at Woodbury, but as I approached the halfway point, in the travels to a degree, my conscience was bothering me more and more. I knew I wasn't cut out to be an interior decorator. While most of the students were going into fits of ecstasy over a Louis XIV chair or some other intricately carved object, I'd be standing in the background thinking it looked like a dust-catcher, or was hideously ugly. It more and more seemed to be a waste of my time, and family money, to be having such a good time, accomplishing very little of benefit. It was ery doubtful that I would ever use the knowledge gained in my own home someday, as the only homes we were learning to decorate were mansions. So, after some soul searching, and quite a bit of regret, I informed Dad that I wanted to quit Woodbury and enroll in Beauty College. He sort of groaned and said, "You went halfway through junior college taking a business course, now you go halfway through Woodbury College and you propose to quit that; What guarantee do I have that you'll complete the beauty school course?" I assured him that if he paid the entire fee when I enrolled I'd finish the nine month's schooling if it killed me! The fee was $100, plus a bit more for supplies and books. The school was in Ontario, just seven miles east of Pomona, and I never worked or studied harder in my life, nor enjoyed it more. Some nights i'd drag myself home, too tired to eat, before dropping into bed, but I'd fond something that I had a natural atitude for, and when that happens the work is so exhilerating. On Monday, December 8, 1941 I was standing at my station, doing some lady's hair, while listening to President Franklin D. Roosevelt make a eclaration of war against Japan, as they had attacked Pearl Harbor in Hawaii the day before. Thus started the war years......
I'm sure the other students were like myself, that day, inthat we didn't realize what it meant to have our country go to war, and what an enormous change it would make in all our lives. The women, who were in the chairs, having theit hair done seemed to be much more affected, as some had boys who were in the age group that would be called upon to fight that war, and some could remember the trauma of World War 1. As for myself, it didn't seem logical that any war with Japan could possibly last more than six months. After all, that was such a tiny country and we were much larger and more powerful. Of course, we hadn't been informed that our Navy had been nearly destroyed at Pearl Harbor, or the situation would have seemed much more serious. Walter immediately started talking about joining the air force, since he was already flying anyway, and that possibility brought up the subject of marriage once more. We decided to become engaged at Christmas time, so went shopping for a ring. We kept is a secret, though, so after the ring was chosen we wrapped it in sucessively bigger boxes until it looked anything but what it was, and put it under the tree at my home. On Christmas Eve, when the family and relatives were assembled for the gift opening ceremony, my Aunt Norma kept brining that box to me to open, and I kept sending it back saying I wanted to open it last. Finally, the time came when that was the only gift left unopened, and everyone watched as I slowly began taking the wrappings off. When I reached the small ring box everyone, but Dad, gave out squeals of delight, and ran over to look at the ring. When I glanced over at him his eyes were full of tears. Later when Walter brought me home after we'd gone out for awhile, Dad was waiting up to talk to me. He wanted to know when we planned to get married and I said, "Oh, not until the war is over!" That seemed to make a big difference in the way he accepted the news, and he erased the frown from his face. Since Walter and I really did intend to wait that long to get married, he tried to find a solution to our being seperated by long distance while he was in the service. We still thought the war was going to be a short term affair, even thought we were not only fighting Japan, but had also entered the war in Europe against Germany and Italy on December 11. Walter heard about the call for men to join the Glider Corps, and the most appealing point being that the training would be at Twenty Nine Palms, in California. So, he signed up for that branch of the air force, and was shipped off to Ft. Sumner New Mexico (crossed out), by train, in June. That day was also the day that Jack, my brother, was married to Eulalie Nesbit. That event was welcomed by our parents as a "step" towards getting Jack a deferment, as they intended on putting Jack's name as part owner of the cattle ranch in Bly, Oregon. That would automatically make him eligible to escape the draft, the ambition of almost every father of a son at that point. Lalie and Jack lasted just a month on that isolated ranch when we received a phone call from Jack, one night, saying he had joined the Air Force and he wanted Mother and I to drive up to Oregon to get Lalie. I was just completing my beauty school course, so soon as I took the State Board tests, we went up and brought her home. After receiving my license, I started working in a beauty shop, writing letters to Walter, and looking for his in the mail, filled the days until early September. He phoned one evening to say he was now stationed in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and would be getting a week's furlough in about a week and why don't we get married? So, I quit by job, shopped for the wedding ring to match the engagement ring, purchased some luggage, and then waited for Walter to break the news to his parents. Time was flying and they were the only ones who didn't know that their only child was getting married within a week! Fearing they would hear from someone else I dragged myself over to their house one night to break the news. His Mother immediately started to cry, but his dad started talking about how much nicer it would be for him to have a home to come back to each day, instead of living in the barracks on the field, etc. etc. So, even though his Mother wasn't too thrilled, she pulled herself together and tried to be resigned to the idea.