Marjorie

So I met Marjorie about May 1947, and I continued to see her basically on an ever increasing frequency, yet continuing with all my Engineering studies at Carnegie Institute of Technology. It kept me quite busy. At one point she wanted us to buy a car together. I couldn't believe it! We always rode the trolly everywhere we went.

Finally some dorm space opened up for me on campus, and I moved into what had been WWII temporary student housing. I moved there during the summer. It saved time with the commute from off campus. My roommate was a Dutchman who I believe was a bit peeved at the loss by the Dutch of the Dutch East Indies, including Java and Summatra (today's Idonesia).
His other observation was that the USA was terribly rich.

When Fall came, still another, better dorm opened up for me, and I moved into an old stone building dorm named "Englebrecht Hall". The dorm room I was in was rather hugh, with lots of windows, and a bunk in each of its four corners. It was comfortable, and a big improvement over the temporary quarters.

Marjorie and I would go to a dance with a big-name big band, we'd go to movies, go for long walks, spend time in the parks, ride the inclines, etc. Once we went for a walk in Panther Hollow on the edge of the Carnegie Tech campus, and got caught in a sudden cloudburst, getting totally drenching wet. So we caught a trolly and went straight home to Marjorie's place. Her mother didn't believe us and thought we had gone swimming with our clothes on!

As time went on, Marjorie began to get rather restless, and I couldn't figure out why. Finally, one evening as I was walking her home, it just popped out from her: "Who are you going to marry?" To me it was out of the blue. I had all along figured I'd get married once I got out of college, and maybe had worked for a year. To me all that was a long way off. But I believe now she was correct in her recollection of my response: "You, I guess." This was in November. So now I was committed. And on further reflection, since we are going to get married, why wait? So that's what we did, getting married at the next available time slot to allow time to get back to Connecticut as newlyweds during Christmas vacation, 1947.

More later.