2:13 p.m. - 2007-07-12
California - here we come ?
Thursday, July 12, 2007
Several weeks went by and Patricia continued to dream of California. She didn't see how she ever would be able to afford to go there, even to just visit Aunt Lucille. She knew Mama was getting worse. She seldom felt up to doing anything. Even when Papa would invite Mama out for a movie; she would not go. She just had no strength any more. She was still interested in getting letters and keeping in touch with the children out at the farm but that was all that she seemed to care about now.
Patricia spent more time alone at home. She tried her hand at writing poems and stories. She didn�t show them to anyone....it was her way of dealing with feeling alone. Strangely, she had no idea that this was a trait she shared with Josephine. Josephine never talked about her poems to her children and the "treasures" were not discovered until after Josephine's death.
"I shall leave behind a million pleasant things...
Things I can never recapture
Time between school periods
Eating peanuts and potato chips
Chatter over a Coke
Laughs and jokes that weren�t funny
School play rehearsals again and again
Moments of breathless excitement before the curtain rises
Now they are all behind.
But this isn�t time for sadness...
This should be some of the best hours of my life
I�m growing up....I�m graduating...
No longer just a high school girl...
No longer a child...almost a woman now.
Ahead lies...marriage or a career?
Happiness or sorrow?
Adventure and excitement?
Or just simply living.
I wish I knew.
By Patricia Drain (1942)
****
GIVE ME A KISS
Give me a kiss, a kiss just meant for me
Give me a kiss, that will last an eternity
I realize that the love in your eyes isn�t just for me.
But my heart simply won�t let my head agree.
So give me a kiss and I vow that I�ll never forget
Memories of days when we two were happy...yet
I always knew you�d never be true -
And it would come to this.
But darling, before you go, give me a kiss.
Patricia Drain - 1942
****
Patricia would stop by to talk to Leonetta at the Fanny Mae Candy Store from time to time. They formed a wonderful friendship. Leonetta became like a mother to Patricia. They were both very fond of each other.
Occasionally, Donald would stop at the store to walk his mother home and he would talk to Patricia. He was so handsome, almost like a movie star in her eyes. He had dark black curly hair and a dimple. He was quite a gentleman and dressed as nicely as he could considering he worked for a small lithograph printing company. He lived with his mother and brothers and sister in an third floor apartment on Clark St. near Patricia�s home with her parents.
Finally he asked Patricia if she would like to see a movie with him one evening.
"Of course.", she said "Yes, I would love to." Inside, she was jumping up and down,
"Oh Yes, Yes, Oh Yes!."
They did go out a few times and became more and more interested in each other. She already loved his mother and wanted to meet his family.
He told her that his father, Arthur, had moved them to Chicago a few years ago. His oldest brother, Arthur Jr. and sister, Marge, who was a nurse had already left home. Catherine and Virginia, two of his other sisters, had married and remained in Minonk, Il. where the entire family had lived for years. Once they were moved into the apartment, his father left. He filed for divorce and never returned. Donald had 7 brothers and sisters in all. Donald, his mother, Leonetta and the twins Leo and Robert, and little sister Donna were living in the 3 bedroom, 3rd floor walk up apt. It had become a necessity for Leonetta had to find a way to feed her growing family. She got her first job with Fanny Mae Candy Store. Over the years, the children had helped out as they grew old enough to work.
Patricia finally got to meet all of them and she had an instant liking for Virginia and Catherine. She felt like they were sisters. She felt very accepted and loved by all the Vietinghoff family.
Patricia continues to write letters to Bob Peltz who was in the Navy. She told him that she felt she had changed since he had left home. She felt more grown-up, perhaps due to her mother�s illness. She told him about her job and the fact that her mother needed Patricia to help with the finances. She felt a big responsibility towards her family. She had thought of moving to California in the hopes of seeing Bob and maybe getting married. But now she didn�t want to leave her family and she wasn�t sure she was still in love with Bob. She asked him if they could remain "friends" and still correspond.
Patricia didn�t hear anything from Bob for several weeks.
Donald�s sister Catherine was living in Minonk, Il. Her husband, Russell Bradberry and his brother, Emerson, worked in a family owned grocery store there. The brothers� mother lived in the house next to the store. It was expected that the two brothers would carry on the family business.
Virginia had been married a few years to a traveling salesman. Unfortunately, although he brought in good money; she discovered that he had another woman on the side and so she divorced him.
Coincidentally, this is the same situation that her mother had been in. Arthur also had been a salesman, had a woman on the side, and eventually got a divorce from Leonetta. The only difference was that Virginia didn't have any children.
Virginia was acquainted with the Bradbury brothers and their family in Minonk. She and Emerson spent some time together and got married. He really enjoyed working in the store every day and was well respected in the little town. They built a house across the street from the store with a white picket fence. It was a perfect little house. They were very happy with their life except there were no babies showing up.
Catherine and Russell had gotten married early. Catherine had gotten pregnant, Arthur threw her out of the house and she married Russell in Feb. 1940. She had a miscarriage followed by two more losses within the first 3 years of their marriage. Russell worked in the store but didn't like being tied down to an inside job. He wanted to work outside and was looking for a better life. Russell often talked about moving to California to find a better life.
Patricia was so envious of the girls. Not the marriage part but the idea of starting a new life somewhere else. She was especially wishing she could move to California or at least, visit the state. She longed to see her Aunt Lucille, her cousin Norma and her sister, Bettie. Perhaps Aunt Lucille could explain about the "twin" on her birth certificate and she would know the story at last.
******
Donald and Patricia had a very long talk one day. They both wanted to go to California and the only way they could afford it - was to go with Russell and Catherine. It would help Russell and Catherine out because there would be another man to drive and more money to put together. The only way that Donald and Patricia could go, though, was to be married. It would not be proper to go as two single people. The neighborhood would talk and Patricia's reputation would be ruined forever.
In the meantime, Josephine had become ill again and was admitted to the hospital. She told Patricia that she had a visit one night in the hospital from her mother, Alice. Alice told her that if she didn�t get well enough to leave the hospital by the next day, Alice was coming to get her and would "take her home.". Considering that Alice had been dead for over 20 years; this gave Josephine the drive to get out of the hospital room and back home quickly, even though she still didn�t feel well!
.
Even though Donald and Patricia were not sure they were ready to marry, they decided it was an adventure and they would take full advantage of the opportunity. After a very short engagement, they got married on Feb 3, 1943 and left on their honeymoon with Catherine and her husband Russell. They set out for California.
So.....was the trip to California a good reason to get married? What would become of the young couple?
