It is August 9th 2012 as I write this last chapter. Next week on August 15th I will be 92 years old. It is getting more and more difficult to organize my thoughts and express them on paper. The memories are still there, however, clear as crystal in my head!
And so I will conclude my story...
I returned home from British Columbia in August of 1941. The BLITZ was raging over London. Hitler was committing atrocities all through central Europe, Russia, and even North Africa! Russ was waiting for me and wanted to get married before he went to pre-flight training at the University of Iowa. He had just given me my engagement ring on December 7th when we got the news of PEARL HARBOR! He was a Naval Aviation Cadet on leave when we made a hasty trip to Keokuk, Iowa, where we were married by a Justice of the Peace on May 9th,1942. We only had two days before he had to report to Iowa City and begin the intensive training as a Naval Aviator.
I returned to the Charm House where my job was waiting for me. I was now Nancy Stewart Moyer and my employer, Mrs.Cosler, had a special party for me in honor of my marriage!
I was back at work and living at the Charm House in July when I received a phone call from mother. She and Eric had bought a farm just two and a half miles from Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin! They were moving there on August 1st, 1942, just a month away! She said it was a lovely big four bedroom house and "would I like to come along" since Russ would be gone for the next nine months to a year! She added that Irv and Emma were getting a truck and would transport their furniture and join all of us! Irv and Emma had just been married. She said that Emma was pregnant and that prompted me to make an appointment with a doctor in Des Plaines as I was not feeling well in the mornings and was tired every afternoon. YES, I was pregnant! I called mother to tell her, but not until I had told my employer Mrs. Cosler. She was totally understanding and kind and only asked that I stay an extra week in order to train another girl to take my place as guide and tea room hostess - which I did.
When I hugged Mrs. Cosler goodbye, she presented me with a package. She had knitted me a lovely baby cap, and rolled up inside was a 50 dollar bill, a lot of money in 1942!
And so we all moved to Chippewa Falls - a far cry from the Chicago area!
Helen and Vensel Voightlander came too. Our nearest neighbors were the Forest Peck family, and when their older son, Howard, came home on leave from the army - resplendent in his Captain's army uniform, Helen dropped Vensel like a hot potato!
Mother and Eric had a lovely big house in the rolling, beautiful hills of Wisconsin thanks to my great grandfather, Peter Campbell! They were married three years later when the checks stopped coming from the Bank of England. Russ came home on leave before beginning his tours of duty with Squadrons in the South Pacific. Baby Maureen was born and we were living in a little apartment on the south side of Chippewa Falls. Russ said, "Nanny, let's settle here after the war - I like this little town!" Irv and Emma had returned to the Warroad area in Minnesota. There was no real place for them at the "farm" in Chippewa Falls and Irv knew it!
A block away on Irvine Street, a little five year old boy was riding his tricycle...his name was Noel - but everyone called him JERRY!
No comments:
Post a Comment