BRIGHT AND EARLY THE NEXT MORNING..........

the telephone rang. It was MY mom, calling to say she and my dad would be by in about half an hour so
we could go to church. (yes, we had arranged that beforehand, and it really seemed like a great idea, but
that was before the wedding.) I believe I mentioned that we were married the day befor Palm Sunday and
we were going to my crazy Aunt Dorothy''s church because one of my cousins was being confirmed. This
was just a small country church, and when we got there it was so crowded we couldn't get in, so we all
went to my parent's house, where we had friends and family invited for an open house, see the wedding
gifts and to eat up the food left over from the buffet, the night before. This was just kind of something everyone
did. We opened up all our gifts (got 5 cofee pots) and spent the rest of the day with our families.

We did not plan to leave Milwaukee until Thursday night, when we would board a train for Petersburg, Va.
where Wayne had to report in for duty on Monday.

I don't remember too much about that week, but one incident stands out in my mind. If I had known on
Saturday what I knew on Tuesday, I might have said "I don't" instead of "I do". As I said we wanted to spend
this week with friends and family as we did not know how long we might be in Virginia, or where after that.
Army pay was not very much. Private Webb's pay was around $70 a month and it would take a while
before my allotment would be in effect.

So, on Tuesday night Bev and Andy came over and took us to the Towne Theater to see "singing in the rain"
The Towne theater is a classy downtown theater. You didn't go there unless you dressed up. We were
really enjoying the movie and when Gene Kelly did his "singin in the rain" song, my newly acquired husband
stood up in this classy joint and did a duet with Gene, just as loud as he could. Kind of reminded me of
a long ago Christmas Eve, when our group decided to go to St. Boniface Catholic church for Midnight Mass.
I was with Chuck at that time. We got there kind of late and had to stand up along the wall as the church
was packed. Chuck stood on one side of me and Wayne on the other. Wayne was slightly ? inebriated,
wo sometime during the service the priest said "you all know what venetian blinds look like, don't you?"
and Wayne very loudly proclaimed "UH"HUH". Everyone in the church looked at us and weeks later, his
mother, who worked at Post Stores, a little neighborhood dress shop, had people stop her and say, "saw
your son in church Christmas Eve" I guess I should have been warned, even back then.

Well, the week passed and on Thursday night we all gathered at the Milwaukee Road Depot and said our
goodbyes and boarded the train for whatever might lie ahead of us in Virginia. Wayne had finished his
Basic Training and would then find out what specialty training was before us. Our life as a couple was
starting out.

One good thing, we would know some people when we got there. Roy and Jerri Rogentin were also
stationed there. They were in my bowling league and Roy had been drafted shortly after Wayne. They
were renting an upper flat in Petersburg, along with Jerri's friends, Dick and Carol Berg.

I am going to stop here and when I continue it will be about our life in Virginia. Love you all ...hope you
are enjoying this journey down Memory Lane