Tue, Oct 22, 1946: good time

“Kappa Rho hayride with blankets!  Conversation not dazzling – good time, tho.”

--Entry in my mother’s diary, October 22, 1946.  This was what my parents considered their first date, as their later letters reveal.

Tue, Oct 22, 1946: decisions

"I'm now a veteran and have been home almost two weeks and don't quite know whether I'm glad to be out of the Navy or not-I think rather that I am, though it's irksome having to make decisions."

--Letter from Jim Allen, Salt Lake City, to my father, Winfield, Kans., Tuesday, October 22, 1946.

My father, left, sports editor of Collegian newspaper, Southwestern College, Winfield, Kansas, 1946-47.

Tue, Oct 8, 1946: lemon coke

“took me to the drug after library closed- lemon coke!”

-- Entry in my mother’s diary, October 8, 1946.  This is the first entry in my mother’s diary, which she entitled “The Brown Book.”  The diary focuses exclusively on her dates with my father.  The “drug” refers to the drugstore.

Sat, Oct 5, 1946: nisei girls

"It is interesting to hear your reaction to college life; Bob and Stan were here for a while, and we all felt rather strange that we were not returning with the others to a life of books and dull lectures.  You seem to be enjoying yourself what with the pretty nisei girls to whom you give eloquent examples of your fluency, etc."

--Letter from John Howes, Hinsdale, Ill., to my father, Winfield, Kans., October 5, 1946.

Thu, Oct 3, 1946: quite a while

"Do we or do we not have a boy in college at Winfield?  It has been quite a while since we heard from you."

--Letter from my grandmother, Bloomington, Kans., to my father, Winfield, Kans., October 3, 1946.  My father was starting his senior year at Southwestern College.  After his sophomore year of college (1942-1943), he was in the U.S. Navy for three years (June 1943-August 1946), during which time he earned enough credits for one year of college.