Summer of 1949

What followed was simply a wonderful summer that went by too quickly.

June and Art.

Art called the day after the party and they began dating, mainly seeing each other on weekends and talking on the phone on weekdays. They went to parties and movies together. They met each other’s parents and both sets of parents approved. Within their peer group, friends were matching up and breaking up regularly with emotions often running high. But June and Art were practically oblivious to the concerns of others around them, as they basked in the intoxication of young love that summer.

Art continued working at Roulston’s as a grocery clerk. At night, he would sometimes attend art lessons from Elena Partida, a local art teacher. June didn’t do much that summer. She slept late, listened to the radio, read books, talked to her friends, and waited for Art to call.

Summer passes quickly, especially when you’re in love. Fall approached. For June, this meant that it was time to pack for her trip back to New York City – two and a half hours away on the Long Island Rail Road. Shirley Stahl would be her roommate again, but this time, they weren’t sure where they would be living. As the date approached to leave, nothing was definite yet. They made plans to stay at the previous year’s 96th Street apartment, even though it was really too expensive for them to afford without former roomate Jane to help out. They hoped they might find additional roommates to share the expense. If not, they figured they might have to move somewhere cheaper – provided they could get out of the lease.

On Saturday, October 1, June returned to New York City, probably driven there by her mother and father. Monday would be the first day of the new school year at Traphagen School of Fashion.

June and Art had agreed to write letters while they were apart. True to their word, they each wrote letters on Saturday night.

(Tomorrow -- June’s first letter from New York City…)

Countdown:  Correspondence begins tomorrow.

© 2010 Lee Price