8# The teen years

Before the teen years, when I was about 12 and in 7th grade - World war 2 began.  The day Pearl Harbor was bombed - December 7, 1941.  I remember being in school and our teacher Mr. Wise, turned on the radio and let us all hear our President, Franklin D. Roosevelt, gravely announce that "we were at war"! At our age, we didn't understand too much, but I had been hearing about the trouble in Europe  and how Hitler was abusing and killing all the Jews.

At home, we used to all gather around the radio in the evening to hear the reports. The only effect it seemed to have on us, was rationing of things like sugar and meat. Rationing meant that each family was given a small  amount of stamps, to be used for those items as well as money , of course!  Gasoline, was the main thing that was rationed and hard to get; but that did not effect us because we never had a car. Ha!

The ladies complained that they could not buy silk hose because it was used to make parachutes. Thats when nylon was invented.  Oh yes, as I got older - we used to paint our hose on and draw a black line up the back of our legs. We did that because that is the way silk stockings were at that time. Lots of my friends began writing to the sailors and soldiers, and that was fun for us.  I wrote to one sailor in particular, who became a "sort of boyfriend" when I was in my teens. We considered ourselves quite grown up but actually we were "just kids"! I saved all his letters for many years until I married and your Dad decided I shouldn't have them around.

I graduated from grade school in February, 1943. The thing I remember the most about it, was how I was dressed! Can you imagine? How vain we were! My mother had to take me downtown to a welfare building, in order to pick out a used dress for my graduation. That's how poor we were! My sister Evey, paid for my first permanent and my hair turned out all bushy and frizzy! In spite of it all  or perhaps, because of it; I felt like an ugly, skinny, girl that day!  For some unknown reason, the only one who attended my graduation was my sister, Viola. She was a great support for me during those years. Her and Roscoe were a safe haven for me, when the drinking problems at home, became too much! Remember, she was 12 years older than I. Evey, was divorced and  was working at a defense plant, because of the war, and making very good money for that time. That was one of the good things the war brought - employment and better times economically for a lot of people.

High School was exciting!  It too, was within 1/2 mile of our place; and I looked forward to my walk every morning and afternoon; because I could day dream along the way. Mostly, fantasizing about someone to love me and marry me and we would have our own little, clean house. I loved learning however, and planned on going to teachers college, to be a teacher after high school. Several of my teachers encouraged me, but it was not to be!My best friend- Mary was sent to a Catholic business school. Her father could afford to pay tuition. So we didn't see each other very much.Of  course, she made new friends and got a part time job. Most of the other girls in school looked older and were fully developed. Which didn't happen for me until I was 17 and in 3rd year high school.  One of the "late bloomers" Ha!

When I was 15, I too got a job! Changing my baptismal certificate to say I was 16. That was done a lot then.  Anyway I was hired to do clerical work after school and in the summer at Spiegel Catalog House.   They too, (I believe) are still around. It was fun! I rode the streetcar to 35th St. every day after school.  It was great to have my own money! Of course, I helped at home and paid rent; which was 1/2 my little salary. I felt good about myself for the first time; and began to buy nice clothes and make friends! Mary and I began to go roller skating or to dances on the weekends. Those days there were roller rinks and dance halls all over . There was always a school dance at one or more of the high schools. I liked a lot of boys but they really never paid much attention to me!

The summer before my 16th birthday, I met your father and wow! He liked me!  I was attracted to him because he was so good-looking and different than the other boys we knew. Right from the first ride on his bike, he acted interested in me and what I liked.   I didn't know until the next summer (when I saw him again) that he was leaving for  Juvenile school for delinquents. When we met, he had told me he was 18 and going away for some job, and would look me up when he got back.  Lots of my girlfriends were already going with someone and planning to marry after high school. I decided, that's what I wanted also! I remember thinking, my sister married at 16- so why couldn't I?  Never mind that her marriage turned out to be a disaster!  I didn't think about that, I thought it was glamorous!  Besides, I just wanted to move out!

When I started going out evenings; my little sister began to wake up nights (we slept together in a twin bed) and I would not be next to her. She would get up some nights and because I was not there; she would leave the flat. Mama was sleeping and not being responsible. Friends, and then my sister Evelyn, began to find Marlene walking on Halsted Street at night!  Not a good place to be, with all the taverns, etc. Marlene was always sweet and over friendly. Remember, her mental age was about 4 or 5 but her actual age was 14.  My sister Evey, who was raising her own 2 children and working to maintain a stable home for them, was always a very hard working, responsible person.  Even tho , she could be very bossy, especially with our mother!  She taught  me a lot in those early years about cleanliness, housekeeping and cooking.  Anyway, Evey was adamant that Marlene should be placed in a State home for developmentally disabled people, as we call them today.

She said it was for her own safety and of course she was right.  However Mama and all of us cried and protested; especially Mama! She loved Marlene,  more than I can tell here. It was a very sad time, and I blamed myself  for many years!  It was almost like she died, because we very seldom  got to see her. The home was in Lincoln, Il. and we never had a car, much less any money for the trip. She died when she was 34 years old, of unknown reasons; we were told by the State. She is buried in Mt. Hope Cemetery in Chicago, where my father is buried. I cried and carried on when she died and your father was a great  comfort to me. He was so good that way.!