Pragmatist
Pragmatist

Lawton, OK
Fri Mar 28 2003

Lawton was NOT OK. Remember, we were there in the winter, and winter there is serious business.

There really wasn't much for me to do. Orders were for three months, so here wasn't much point in looking for a job, part or full time. Besides, I don't believe The Captain would have approved. Anyway, I did what little tidying up there was to do, then had time until he came home for lunch. I played solitaire and listened to Arthur Godfrey on the radio. Anybody remember the Old Redhead?

I remember that Godfrey talked a lot about his airplane and about the Teterboro airport where he kept his plane. I think I started dreaming of learning to fly about that time.

So Hubby comes home for lunch, and after, I do some more tidying up and begin to plan for dinner. Now, my husband was a hearty trencherman, so I needed to have a real meal ready for him. No tuna sandwich and a salad. Actually, I pretty much cooked what he brought home. He did the grocery shopping at the commisary on base.

During the war, my husband was in Army Intelligence (is that an oxymoron?). His specialty was deciphering aerial photography. He taught me some tips on aerial photography and was so proud of me when I could identify buildings and railyards, and other things. He was also an Intelligence courier in Europe toward the end of the war. However, this was peacetime, so I can only speculate on what his duties may have been at Ft Sill. He didn't talk about his work.

We went out a few times to dinner at the O Club, but mostly we stayed in. The weather wasn't conducive to evening strolls. Husband did take the clothes to the laundromat (bless him!), and my days were spent in a pretty leisurely fashion. Having only one car, it wasn't all that easy for me to get out, anyway. Weekly bridge game. Sometimes husband would come home and drive me to the O Club, or sometimes the Colonel's lady (and she was a lady in the finest sense) would pick me up, and husband would bring me home.

I don't remember much else about Lawton, and what I did with my days. But finally, the three month TDY was about to end and no further orders in sight. So we drove up to Oklahoma City one day to find out what was holding up further orders. I waited in the car and observed the women passing by. I never saw so many old looking young women. The wind blows constantly there, and the women were really weatherbeaten looking. I must say, though, that they were smartly dressed.

Eventually orders came through to go to Ft Bliss in El Paso, TX. So that's the end of my saga for today. Tomorrow, the trip to El Paso.

Shalom.

7 Comments
  • From:
    Yetzirah (Legacy)
    On:
    Fri Mar 28 2003
    My Dad was the same way about my Mom working.
    I remember once, she got a part time job working in the potato shed when a local guy harvested potatoes for a few weeks in the fall. She worked like a dog, but really liked having some money of her own. I don't know what she did with that money, I will have to ask her. We have a picture of her after she came home from work one day.
    She looked like a walking mud puddle. My Granny Barr (her mother) was staying with us for a while and she looked after us when we came home from school and made supper while Mom was doing that job. It was kind of neat to have Granny there, she always had cookies and milk for us. And she made THE BEST coconut cream pie you ever ate.
    Boy, that was a long time ago !
    I remember Arthur Godfrey, but on TV, not radio.
    :-)

    Write On !
  • From:
    FishCreekBride (Legacy)
    On:
    Fri Mar 28 2003
    Thanks for sharing your story. It's great. You have a real gift for writing. I still have my first cook book too. When I was about 10 years old, my grandmother gave me a cookbook called "My First Cookbook". It had some great, easy recipes. Back then there were no microwave ovens so we had to cook on a real stove.
  • From:
    Becoming (Legacy)
    On:
    Fri Mar 28 2003
    I'm really enjoying this glimpse into the past.

    *smile*
  • From:
    Sezrah (Legacy)
    On:
    Fri Mar 28 2003
    this is just like watching one of those old-time movies, or reading a book, except it was all real, and better still, it is YOUR life story :)
    i bet you were a charming wife
    i have often thought that i would never have suited living in those times as i am far too 'rebellious' when it comes to men and womens 'traditional' roles. right now the thought of a husband, cooking and housework makes me balk ;)
    i'm sure back then i would have been considered an old maid long before now
    shalom dear pragmatist

    sez


  • From:
    Becoming (Legacy)
    On:
    Fri Mar 28 2003
    *smile* My husband's father was at Pearl Harbor also. He helped bring people onto the shore when it was bombed. My dad was stationed at a base in Southern California before going overseas. He actually trained pilots there, and was married to my mother on the base. I want to say Fremont, but I'm not sure.

    When all this began . . . before "Shock and Awe" I heard the planes fly out of a nearby base in Terre Haute. They flew directly over our house. I said to my husband, something big is going to happen soon. It was an eerie feeling.
  • From:
    Ozone (Legacy)
    On:
    Fri Mar 28 2003
    If the women in Lawton had aged skin, I can immagine how you will describe the women you saw in El Paso....maybe sand blasted lol. I know that the thing that stuck in my mind after my first trip to El Paso was that everything looked sand blasted.

    RYN: The Polynesian Cultural Center is still in operation. The last time I was there was when my daughter and grand children were here over a year ago. I had been there in the 60s also (Vietnam R&R) and was much more impressed with it then. It just seems so fake now. Maybe it is just that, after living here for almost 22 years, I see it through different eyes. It also seems to be badly in need of maintenance now. With the big drop off in tourism now, they may not have the funds to keep it up.
  • From:
    Kittydragon105 (Legacy)
    On:
    Sat Mar 29 2003
    I live in OK, and yes, it is windy here. I never noticed any of us being weatherbeaten here, all i know is that we always know when someone comes inside with a messy 'do.....the wind did it.

    anyway, and yes, oklahoma is desperately boring.

    Jenn