Part 2

When I met Fred, as I said before he was with my best girlfriend, he told me to wait and he would be back for me. I looked at this handsome Marine and knew then and there that he was the one I was going to marry. Well I waited and he came back for me. He walked me home. My dad and mom were sitting on the front porch. He said he had to get home but could he call me. I looked at Dad and after what seemed like an eternity my dad nodded his head yes.

He did call the next day and we went to the movies that night. He didn't wear his uniform that night but he was the best looking guy I had ever seen. This took place in September of 1946. We dated almost every night. Some times Dad made us take my little brother along. Well Fred would give my brother a dollar to go to the movies by himself and we would pick him up in front of the movie house at 10 o'clock. We would go to the local teen age hang out and Dance, and got to know one another. I found out he was 21 and I was 16. I knew my Dad would not be happy about that. But my mind was made up. He was the one I wanted. One Saturday night we lost track of time and my brother went home with out me. When we walked up to the porch, my Dad stood up and told Fred never to come back because I could not see him. I went to bed that night and cried all night until 6.30 the next morning. My Dad came into my bedroom and put his arms around me and said, "Princess if you care so much for Fred I will let you see him but he will have to come to the house to see you." My tears stopped, I hugged my Dad and couldn't wait till the time that I could call Fred and tell him.

When 5 o'clock came I knew Fred would be home from work so I called him. I was so happy that I could see him again. But when I told him we had to stay at the house he said no way. He was not going to stay where my Dad was. He was afraid of him, so I started to cry again so he finally said ok. We would sit on the back porch and listen to music and talk learning about each other. Some nights my mom and dad and brother and Fred and I would play monopoly. It went fine for two months. At Thanksgiving Dad invited Fred to go deer hunting with the rest of the family, and he agreed to go along. Fred got his first deer on that trip. After we ate Thanksgiving Dinner, dad said if we wanted to go out for awhile it was ok. So that is how we made it through getting Dad to like Fred.

We started to talk about getting married. My Dad said no way, I had to finish school first. I would graduate in June but we didn't want to wait. On Fred's Birthday in 1947 he gave me a ring. Dad said I could accept the ring but there still wouldn't be a marriage until I graduated. Fred was driving 18 wheelers then and he often made trips to Baltimore Md. He found out they didn't have blood test or waiting periods, so in February I went with him in the truck and we got married.It was not a big great wedding. Fred had a leather jacket and jeans and boots on, and I had slacks, a blouse and a winter coat on. The whole ceremony took 15 minutes in the parsonage of a Maryland Preacher. And we headed back home to Harrisburg.

The next thing we had to do was tell Dad. I sure wasn't looking forward to that. I must tell you, all my life I obeyed my dad, his word was law. It never even entered my mind to go against him, that is until I fell in love with Fred. So by this time I had not been home last night and Dad had everyone out looking for me and he figured Fred was with me. My brother was hanging out around Fred's grandmothers home who he lived with. He said Dad was going to skin me alive and send Fred to his Maker. Oh well. We went to face Dad and Mom. If there is one thing my Dad could do was tell you why you should not have done something twelve different ways. I thought he would never shut up. Poor Fred just stood there saying Yes Sir, You Are Right at everything Daddy said. At last Dad said he would get it annulled. Of course I started to cry again ( I knew my Dad couldn't stand seeing me cry) so he finally said ok "BUT I BETTER MAKE IT WORK OR ELSE'." He told Fred he should never HIT ME, there are other ways to argue or fight. NO HITTING. And to this day Fred has never hit me. Not that I didn't deserve it sometimes.

So Dad said that we could have the Front Room on the Third floor until Fred got some money saved to get a place of our own. And that driving truck was no profession for a married man. So Dad took him in to his Construction Company and Fred learned it from the ground up. Fred got a lot of teasing from the guys on the job because he was the bosses son-in-law, but it was fun teasing. Dads company all were like family. They were all there for one another.

It worked fine living at my home, but now I had two bosses, my Husband and my Father still told me what to do. When we argued Fred 's voice would be very low and no one could hear him, but my voice carried for miles, and my Mother told me if I didn't stop picking on Fred she wouldn't blame me if he left me. I got pregnant right away. I really didn't know a lot about sex or babies, except that I loved babies and wanted one of my own. My Mom took me to the Doctors each month and the Doctor talked to her not to me so I still didn't know a lot. When I was about six months pregnant, I started having pains. I didn't know what they were. My Dad had me lay down on the couch in the living room and called the doctor. All of a sudden I felt like I had to have a BM and didn't want to on the couch. Dad said let it go. And I had a feeling of relief. So it turns out my Dad and Fred delivered my first son. He only lived 2 hours, about the time the Doctor arrived the baby died. I grew up real fast. I guess I was a young girl playing house, but all of a sudden my life changed.

It was two years before I got pregnant again. But this time I went to the Doctors by myself and did a lot of reading so I knew what was going to happen. I never had morning sickness or anything. I felt better than I had in my whole life while I was pregnant. My son was born on January 7, 1950. I had my own baby at last. I had almost given up hope of ever holding my own baby. Of course living with my parents, I didn't seem to have final say about my son. My parents always thought I didn't know anything. I don't know if it was frustration over not having control of my own son or what, but I got pregnant right away. My second son was born December 27, 1950. Both in one year.

There was a single middle aged lady that lived next to my mother. When she would come home from work she would come over and ask for my second son John. She would take him home feed him and bathe him and get him ready for bed. So now my parents did for my oldest son Rick and Rachel the lady next door took my John. She said I couldn't give two babies the love they both needed and she would help me love them and give me some free time.

And here I am again with out my babies. But with the expense of the two babies we couldn't afford to find a place of our own yet. And Dad and Fred got along like Father and son. I wasn't exactly a happy lady. Two years later I get pregnant again. Well I decided that this time I was going to be the boss in my family and of my new baby. So we applied for a GI Loan, since Fred had been in the Marines, and bought a house in a little development. It was great. It was a three bedroom and would be ideal for our little family, it was about 15 miles north of Harrisburg and I fooled myself into thinking it was far enough away that I would have my family all to myself.

The time came and I had a third son, we named him Jeffrey. We finally had our three sons to ourselves. It was great. But Rachel would come up on weekends and asked to take John home with her and she would bring him back Sunday. (I have to tell you I had been brought up that you agreed with adults and don't give them a hard time) so I said ok. Well right after they left Dad came. He said he wanted Rick for the weekend. Fred said no but Rick went with Dad. Now here we were in our brand new house and two of our sons gone for the weekend. Little did I know in years to come I would wish Rachel and Dad were to give me a break once in a while. Fred went back to driving 18 wheelers and I use to wait tables at the local America Legion on Saturday and Sunday. My Grandma Rockey would set with the boy those two nights. My working weekends were my nights out. We never had the money or time just to go out any more. But it was so nice and cozy when the boys were all asleep and Fred and I were sitting on the couch watching our 8 inch TV.

God was good to us at this time in our lives. He gave us the belief that we could get our home and blessed us with three beautiful sons. At this point in my life I couldn't ask for another thing. I felt every thing was perfect.

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