Senior year continues in 1955

My dates with Evan evolved to Saturday nights and Sunday afternoons. Not long after we started dating, one afternoon, he suggested we take a drive south instead of north or east like we normally did. I assumed we would find some restaurant in that direction to stop for coffee, but instead, he pulled into the driveway of a large white house in the center of a little tiny town called Montrose. “Why are we stopping here?” I asked.

“My folks live here. I wanted you to see my horse. Let’s check and see if the folks are home.”

Oh, I’m not ready to meet his folks. He could have told me ahead of time. I hope they aren’t here.

They were there all right. In fact, the first words out of his mother’s mouth were, “We were wondering what time you would be getting here.” He had told his parents they would be meeting me, but he hadn't told me. I don’t know why he felt it necessary to surprise me, or make me believe he was just checking to see if they were home.

They were both nice and conversation was easy. His mother was a talker. We sat in their front room and chatted for a while before going to the barn to see the horse. His mom was short and plump and his dad was short also, but slim and wiry. Both looked to be close to sixty. Later, his little sister, Nan, came over with a friend. She was ten. I got into the western saddle and sat on the horse while Evan held the reins. I wasn’t used to riding horses, but I did watch him ride.

The house was probably built in the twenties. It had a large screened front porch. Inside was a wide hall running through it with large rooms on either side. Along with the house there were around sixty acres of pasture and woodland. Behind the house, the yard was covered with huge pecan trees.

What Evan didn’t bother to tell me, and I wouldn’t learn until after we were married, was that he actually owned the house. He had bought it hoping his parents could eventually afford to buy it from him. He had used money he’d earned in the military. Until they could buy it from him, he would be making yearly payments on the mortgage. I would soon realize that Evan gave out information only on a ‘need to know’ basis. I hadn’t reached the place where I needed to know.

During the last half of our senior year at school, things started to pick up. Seniors got to do many things the other classes didn’t do. For one thing, there was a special senior trip in the works. Our class was expected to earn the money to pay for it. Most of those in my class weren’t from families with money. Other grades had twice as many students as we did, and some of their fathers were bankers or business owners. Trips to New York or Florida were too expensive for us. We had to settle on a trip to New Orleans which was closer and less expensive. Our class sponsor was Mrs. Turnage, the lady I taken private speech lessons from all year.

I’d been to New Orleans only once, and that was basically a drive through without seeing much of anything. Mrs. Turnage had all sorts of cultural experiences in mind for us. She didn’t seem to get that we weren’t interested in museums, historical tours and fine restaurants. We were just a little group of country hay seeds that didn’t have that kind of money to spend. We just wanted the experience of being in a big city. We would settle for seeing the French Quarter, shopping in souvenir shops, eating at cheap food counters and riding the river boat.

It was April, and it was already warm in Mississippi. With New Orleans quite a bit further south most of us brought summer clothes. We stayed in a nice hotel with two people to a room. The night we went on the river boat was fun, because I’d never been on a riverboat. There was live music and a lot of sailors were out for a night of drinking and dancing. Guys kept coming up to me and asking me to dance, but I’d never danced, so I had to turn them down. A couple of girls did know how to dance and were soon on the dance floor having fun. This was driving our two lady chaperones crazy trying to keep up with kids running around on all three decks. The weather turned unseasonably cold that night, and I thought I would freeze as we walked back to our hotel. 

The next thing on the agenda was our senior play. Mrs. Turnage had everyone try out for parts, but she told me ahead of time to pick the part I wanted and it was mine. Of course, I chose the female lead. My rival, Jo Ann, tried out for the part, but didn’t have a chance because Mrs. Turnage had already given it to me. Jo Ann was upset and refused to read for another part. She said she wouldn’t be in town anyway. However, she was in town and ended up being an usher.

The play was a mystery involving a deserted lighthouse. My part called for a lot of screaming over strange 9807896y564er2341wsdxanoises and spiders. I invited Evan to the play, and he came from Jackson after work to see me act. His comment was, “I sure hope you don’t scream like that a lot.” I got more flattering reviews from others.

I hadn’t realized until I became a senior, that the last month of school would involve a lot of parties in honor of many of the seniors. Mrs. Turnage gave the first party in honor of all of the senior girls. This was a garden party tea party. We all had to wear hats, gloves, high heels and hose and sip our tea like royalty. She was determined to turn us into dignified society ladies, which none of us had any desire to become.

The wife of the owner of the grocery store where Dad worked gave a party in my honor. We played party games. She gave me a camera for a gift. There were various other students honored. One girl was honored with a skating party and picnic on a lake for the entire class. I was honored along with two other girls at another party. I think there were around ten or fifteen different parties.

The year was 1955, Eisenhauer was still president. During the first half of the year, Mr. Sandman topped the charts. Incidentally it was playing on the radio as I dressed for my first date. Elvis debuted on television. Blackboard Jungle was the top movie. Rock Around the Clock was a top rock song. Johnny Carson’s show debuted on late-night TV. Winston Churchill resigned as prime minister in the UK. Albert Einstein died in March, and McDonald’s started their first franchise.

I’ll see what happened in the latter part of the year, and include it in the next chapter.