Dorothy’s Love Life

by Dorothy South Hackworth

 

My daughter, Lois Wright, thinks it would be interesting for me to write about my early dating years and love life. Hopefully my mistakes will not be an example for anyone else to follow but rather they will cause others to be wiser than I.

 

I don't know why my parents allowed me to date at 15.  I was a Freshman in high school at Idaho Falls when I started dating a good-looking, blond fellow with blue eyes, and he had a car. That was mighty nice as Earle Adamson would take me home after school and on dates to movies.  He was a bell hop at the Bonneville Hotel, and at times, that impressed me.

 

Earle had a friend who was also a bell hop and. worked at the same hotel. I don't recall his name but here is one thing I do remember. One night I had a date with this friend the same night I had a date with another fellow. That was a night to be remembered, that's for sure.  It was terrible worrying the entire time that I might not get home until the second date had arrived and find him either waiting and angry or GONE. However, it turned out all right and taught me a lesson.

 

I used to go with a cousin of Warren Bybee's. (Warren is my niece Elayne's husband). His name was Rawland Bybee. He was always very polite and treated me with great respect. In later years, Rawland married Mildred Helm whose sister Pauline married Jay Browning.  (Jay became Hubert’s boss in St. Anthony at the Browning Motor Company.)  I have not done much wondering about Rawland, but I have at times thought about Earle and have hoped he and Gladys Skow's marriage was a happy one.

 

There couldn't have been a finer sweetheart than Alden Staker.  I knew him in high school and took Spanish one year with him.  He didn't want to go on a mission, but we both knew that his parents would be extremely disappointed if he didn’t accept his call, as would his younger brother Jerry and sister Barbara.  I had every intention in the world of being true to Alden and to faithfully wait for his return.

 

While one is waiting for a missionary it is very important to pursue interests that will prepare them for marriage and above all: to be true.  One thing commendable: I did grow spiritually serving as a Beehive leader in the Fourth Ward. How-ever, I dated and even went out some with Alden's brothers.

 

When Alton Tidwell came along, he swept me off my feet and was so attentive there was no time to think about Alden any more.

 

After Alton and I were divorced, I was reluctant to become serious with anyone as I feared being hurt again.  However, I did date some fine fellows: Evan Tracy of Ucon; Keith Bramwell who had a farm. He is related to Alton Bramwell who used to have a furniture store in St. Anthony. 

 

Keith would have given Shirlene and Allen each a horse.  There would have been lots of bless-ings and advantages to live on a farm, but what worried me was having to learn to cook during haying time.  (There would be many men to cook for.  Could I do that?)

 

Then there was Virgil ("Bud") Later. He is related to Ruth Peck and to Grant Chandler. Bud liked music, dancing, gardening and raising flowers. He was very thoughtful of his mother. I believe his mother is a sister of Judge Willard Burton's mother.  I know had I married Bud we would have had a beautiful yard with numerous flowers. And he was religious.

 

We were planning to be married when lo and behold, I decided to break our engagement as I wanted to go back to Alton.  Alton only talked about our reuniting.  He didn't actually plan on doing so. (I still think Allen should ask Alton, "Do you think Mother and you will ever get back together?" just to torment him some.)

 

For three or four years Alton kept me thinking there was a possible chance we'd get married again.  It was wrong for me to see Alton after we were divorced, but I felt bitter against his wife Dorothy for breaking up our marriage and so justified his occasional visits to see me and

our children.

 

While living in Ogden with my Aunt Kate and her daughter Althea Spencer, I met a service man (army) by the name of George Staton.  He was divorced and had a son named Francis.  I thought more seriously about George than he did of me.  This I learned on time when I found out his mother from Seattle and a sister from Pocatello had come to visit him and he hadn't

seen to it that we met each other. What a disappointment!  And another thing, George never went with me to get acquainted with Shirlene and Allen and the Tidwells.

 

It was a blessing that he and I never married.  He wasn't LDS; he smoked, didn’t seem interested in my church, only attended a couple of times with me.  Instead of him coming to take me to dances, I’d meet him at a dance.  That was such a foolish thing to do, plus it certainly indicates he didn't show me the respect he should have.  The only good thing about our relationship was the fact I wasn't quite as lonesome as I would have been otherwise not being with Alton. 

 

George did take me to movies, however. He didn't have a car so the bus wasn't exactly the best conveyance in the world.  He seemed to appreciate Sunday dinners at Aunt Kate's.

 

If Hubert and I had had a long courtship, it's possible I would have changed my mind.  In fact, I worried constantly when we were going together that he might not be sure he wanted to marry me and that he might want to remarry his former wife, Lillian. That was natural for me to think that way because of the way I'd felt about going back to Alton.