Friday, March 5, 2010

Fearless Females - March 5: How did they meet?

The Fearless Female blog prompt for today is:


March 5 — How did they meet? You’ve documented marriages, now, go back a bit. Do you know the story of how your parents met? Your grandparents?


Did you read my post yesterday - Treasure Chest Thursday - "I'll be out to see you" - and wonder how my father met my mother?

Here's the next chapter of the story.

My father, Fred Seaver, arrived in San Diego just before Christmas 1940 and lived for awhile with the George and Emily (Richmond) Taylor family (Emily was Fred's Aunt, sister of Fred's mother), which included their daughter's family, Marshall and Dorothy (Taylor) Chamberlain and their daughter Marcia. They lived at 4601 Terrace Drive in the Kensington community of San Diego. Fred got a job with his cousin-in-law, Marshall Chamberlain and eventually moved into an apartment.

My mother, Betty Carringer, graduated from San Diego State College in June 1940 and embarked on a public school teaching career, starting at Woodrow Wilson Junior High (on El Cajon Boulevard in San Diego, about one mile from Terrace Drive) in September 1940, teaching English and Art. She resided at her parents home at 2130 Fern Street in San Diego, about four miles from the school (I'm sure that she took the bus, since she never drove or had a license).

Dorothy (Taylor) Chamberlain (1904-1988) told the story about how Fred met Betty every time we visited her in her later years:

"After some time, Fred announced at the dinner table 'I need a girl friend.'

"Marcia, age 14 at the time and attending Wilson Junior High School, said 'I know a nice teacher. I know her from my Art class.'

"Fred sent flowers to Betty through Marcia, they had a miniature golf date in Balboa Park with the Chamberlains as chaperones, a romance blossomed, resulting in their marriage in July 1942."

Dorothy would tell this story each time we would take her on an outing in her later years, and I always wondered about the truth of it. So I asked her daughter, Marcia, about it. Cousin Marcia wrote several letters to me about her memories of my father, after he arrived from New England in December 1940, that describe this event.

So that's the story - he wanted a girl friend, sent flowers, and romance bloomed in San Diego.

4 comments:

Cindy said...

How romantic a story this is! I thought for sure at the end you would say it wasn't true but you fooled me - guess there were really romantics in the world back then. Flowers AND mini golf! Thanks for sharing. -cindy

Michelle Goodrum said...

That's a cute story. I was wondering from yesterday's post how they had met. Thanks for sharing!

Lisa said...

Great story, Randy!

Thanks for blogging along with the prompts!

Lisa

Unknown said...

All of these "Fearless Females" blog leads would be great gathered in a book to be shared with your families. I would love to show you how to do that - and will be working on one of my own! www.ipreservelegacies.com