Teaching was not for me. I needed a secure job. I answered an ad in the Richmond paper, “Earn while you learn”. The Metropolitan Technical Institute in Dallas, TX advertised evening classes in electronics as well as other trades, and an employment service to find students suitable work. We wanted to check into it further before committing to the $1,500 tuition. A call to the Better Business Bureau revealed that the school had qualified teachers, but the drop-out rate was high. To see for myself, David, now 10, and I packed our’ 59 Plymouth station wagon and headed for Dallas.

The first day took us to a TVA park in TN. We parked near the dam and slept on air mattresses in the back of the station wagon. We awoke the next morning to the sound of an outboard motor boat. A fisherman was bringing in his catch from tight-lines he had put out the day before. He gave us a large cat fish. We gathered some sticks, built a fire and cooked the fish. We weren’t prepared to cook, so we ate some cake that was wrapped in aluminum foil, We could cook the fish in the foil. We did have sandwich material, so I used some mayonnaise and salt on the cooked fish. It was plenty for both of us and tasted very good.

We arrived in Dallas in the middle of the day. I bought a local paper to check the ads for a boarding house and a temporary job. The first boarding house I checked with would not take children. The second one did. I took a part time job helping to pick up and deliver furniture for a furniture stripping company. This worked out good because David could ride with us.

The school seemed OK so I looked for a place to bring the rest of the family. While looking for the address of a house listed for rent, I realized the house numbers were going up instead of down (or vise-versa). The street had a grass medium with breaks in the middle of the blocks. I made a “U” turn at one of these breaks. Wrong! A policeman saw me make the “U” turn and pulled me over. “U” turns are illegal in Texas. Also, how long have you been in Texas? Do you have a job and place to live? You are supposed to have Texas plates on the car as soon as you do.” I told him my story and that in Virginia “U” turns were legal unless marked otherwise. He believed my story and didn’t give me a ticket. We found the house. It was old, but livable. Shopping. was nearby. I rented the house.

I registered at the school. They found me a job at Binion O’keef, a wholesale grocery and an Allied moving company. I agreed to start in a couple of weeks. David and I returned to the farm.

I rented the largest “U-Haul” truck I could find and loaded it up. I loaded the freezer near the back so air could get to it. The freezer was loaded with meat and vegetables. By leaving the back doors open and placing a bed spring hanging out and covered with stuff, I was able to load just about everything. One thing I left behind was a toy vanity we had given Jeanie for Christmas (or birthday). It was flimsy and I didn’t think it would survive the trip. It really upset Jeanie (I’m sorry.). I tied a canvas over the extended stuff. The rope also supported the bed springs and secured the doors. I drove the truck and Mary Ellen drove the car.

It was a three day trip. I remember Perry’s Motel and Truck Stop. I asked permission to plug in the freezer. The room and restaurant were very nice. On the way through Memphis, Mary Ellen ran a red light. She was afraid I would leave her. Of course I would have waited for her. She did not get stopped for the violation, thank goodness. Her driver’s license was in a dresser drawer all the way in the front of the truck. By time we got there, the rope had stretched so the load sagged below the tail lights.

Binion O’keef was close enough for me to walk to work. To get to the grocery store, we walked past the night club owned by the guy that shot Lee Harvey Oswald. Of course, it was quiet during the day.

I chose the course on Computer Maintenance, mostly electronics. Classes met five nights a week.

We didn’t stay in the house on Gilbert Ave. very long. For one thing, it was soon to be torn down for commercial development. Also, Met. Tech. found me a better job at Plastics Mfg. Co. that was in the Oak Cliff section of Dallas.

Daddy loaned us the down payment on a three bed room frame house near PMC. It was on a one fourth acre lot with a two car garage. The kitchen was small. It had a floor furnace for heat. I wired it for our electric range. Shopping was about three or four blocks away. I remember Page’s Drug Store that always had 5 cent ice cream cones. I set up a Ping-Pong table in the garage. A co-worker, Roy Smith, would often come over to play Ping=Pong.

My job at PMC was in the quality control department. I mixed the pigments for the plastic dishes, tested dishes for fading and durability in the dishwasher. My job took me all over the plant to collect samples and deliver the pigments. I got to know many of the workers. The department head was to retire soon so management had me training for the job. I was the only one in the department with much education.

PMC was unionized. I was not in the union because I was not considered part of production. PMC had machinists that made parts for the presses. Tool makers were hard to find so PMC offered wages over that agreed on by the union. The Ball Mill operators took offense because they only got the union-agreed wage. The Ball Mill operators went on a “wild cat” strike. (the union did not support it.) I knew most of the operators. Management ran the ball mills, but I was not asked to. I would go to work past the picket line, but none of the pickets asked me not to go in. If they had, I wouldn’t have gone in. They all lost their jobs.

Family finances were still tight. David and Jeanie were in grade school only a few blocks away. Jeff went to a church play school. Mary Ellen did substitute teaching. I continued to work most Saturdays at Binion O’keef helping with local moves.

David (holding a puppet),Nancy, Jeanie & Jeff in Dallas.

We had good neighbors on June Drive. We attended a Baptist church near by. One neighbor had a pet crow. Sometimes it would light on our head. We had a puppy that the crow liked to tease. The crow went a little too far - the puppy did it in. The neighbor was not upset. The crow had gotten to be a nuisance, even to them.

While living on June Drive, we painted the garage, replaced the roofing and replaced the gas hot water heater. The house had cost only $8,000. The payments were about $60 a month. I was making about $500 a month - barely enough to live on and make small payments on the fertilizer debt. We lived in the house for about two years and sold it for $9,000. How things have changed!

Near graduation time, I interviewed for electronic jobs. PMC even wanted me to stay, and would find me a position in my new field, but we wanted to move back East. IBM kept me just about all day taking tests and interviews. Of course, I was now over 40 years old and apparently too old for them. Being an equal opportunity employer, they could not turn me down because of my age. They didn’t have to. I left before they told me they didn’t want me. I accepted a job with GE testing circuits. It didn’t sound very interesting or like it would have much opportunity for advancement but it did pay well. I was to start Monday. In the mean time, MTI lined up an interview with Honeywell. I took the Honeywell job and called GE to tell them I wasn’t coming in. Honeywell started at $600 a month. I was to train with Honeywell in the Boston area starting in March for four months.

We rented the house in Dallas, furnished, to a MTI student. We loaded the ‘49 dodge station wagon, with over 100,000 miles on it, with as much stuff as we could. That included a large pack on top wrapped in a canvas and a bicycle. Early on, we smelled gas. The springs had bottomed out mashing the gas line. We were able to get to a gas station where the mechanic cut the line and re-routed it around the axle. On the way through Virginia on I-81, we were cruising along at a fair pace. Traffic was still passing us when I noticed the speedometer reading 95 with six of us in an overloaded car. Whoa! 60 seemed like a crawl. When we paid our last toll on the NJ Turnpike, the toll taker asked how we were able to enter the turnpike with that load on top. I didn’t know there was a restriction.

I guess we stayed in a motel the first night. I don’t remember. Anyway, after reporting in to Honeywell a day early, we rented a house and furniture in Bellingham, Mass. It was about 20 miles from Honeywell, but I was able to share a ride with other trainees.

It was early March. We expected Spring weather. Wrong again! It had just snowed 14 inches and we left our boots and heavy coats behind. It snowed about a foot each week into April. The snow didn’t stop traffic or school.

We enrolled David & Jeanie in school. They were not very welcome that late in the school year. David was reprimanded for saying, “Yes Mam.” It is disrespectful in the north to address a lady with “Mam”. (What is feminine for “Sir”?)

Soon after we moved in, someone (I don’t remember who) gave us a nice , house broken, young dog. Her name was Cindy. Once when Nancy was calling Cindy, a little girl, about Nancy’s age, came across the yard and said, “My name is Cindy.” The dog, Cindy, was very well behaved in the house while we were there, but we left her in the house one time while we went grocery shopping, and she tore down the curtains and got in some food that was on the table.

A friend of Jeanie invited us to her church. When we asked what kind of church it is, she replied, shyly, that is Southern Baptist. We had planned to attend the Northern Baptist Church in Bellingham, but went with her on the church bus, instead. Most of the members were from the South or West. It met in the basement of an unfinished civic club building in a near by town. A temporary roof had been built over only the basement. After we joined the church, there were 40 members. The church was very spiritual.

In June, we moved to a cottage, near by, on Silver Lake. We had the use of a small aluminum boat. We caught plenty of brim and perch. Cindy, the dog, liked to ride in the boat. She would even swim out to the boat if she was left behind.