When we landed in the States, Orville found the car was there and there was a bus leaving immediately for the place where he could pick it up. We both forgot that we had had to convert our money and he had not given me any. The children and I were left for about three hours with no money and could not leave anyway as we could not carry all our luggage. Finally, he returned and we were on our way home for visits and then to Washington, D.C. where Orville was to be stationed in the Surgeon General's Office, a good assignment which he loved.
Our tour in Washington D.C. was as good as we had expected. Orville loved his work in the Surgeon General's Office which was good. He worked for Colonel Kuhns who had always been one of his favorite bosses. We lived on South Post, Ft. Myers, right across the street from Arlington National Cemetery. We used to take walks through the cemetery and watch the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Sometimes a funeral was taking place and we would stand at a distance and watch and listen. I felt the children got a beautiful idea of death. Of course, there were also all the historical things to see, The Lincoln Memorial, Washington Monument, Jefferson Memorial, etc. The only bad thing was that when we had guests, I saw the same things over and over again, but that wasn't too bad.
We were just supposed to stay for one year so we had pretty well planned to leave and had packed when Colonel Kuhns had a stroke. They asked Orville to stay on and run the office. We said he would not want to leave during the school year and they said he would not have to. We unpacked again, and had started buying Christmas presents to mail. Suddenly, at the end of November they told Orville he would have to leave and be in San Antonio by the end of the year. Shortly before this I had found out I was pregnant again and really did not feel like packing again, but of course I did. We left Washington in time to have Christmas in Illinois with the Eckbergs and in Iowa with the Paullins and arrived in San Antonio on New Year's Eve. We moved into a motel with a kitchenette while we waited for quarters which they assured us should be soon. After about three weeks, Orville went to check on the quarters and found they had decided to remodel them and they would not be ready for several months. We had already enrolled David in Ft. Sam Houston Elementary School so we needed a place where he could continue there so we took a two bedroom duplex on Clem Road. We had lovely neighbors there, the Omers and Collies (the Collie family had two sons, one of whom, Bruce, went on to play football with the San Francisco 49ers) were next door, the Maderes across the street, and many others. Orville's job was with the 4th Medical Lab, Chief of Chemistry and he liked it.
The end of June the baby (Debra) decided to be born. I think of David in his work now. He woke up to ask us where we were going and I told him the baby was coming and we were going to the hospital. He said, "I thought you went out to the hospital for checkups so they could tell you when it was going to be born." Debbie was born that night, June 30th. I had wanted her to be born on June 30th as that was my parents' wedding anniversary, Peg Lee's birthday and the birthday of a friend (Jane Neff) who wanted her named Jane after her. Debbie was just a few months old when we moved into quarters on Infantry Post where we lived for 5 1/2 years. We ended up living there so long that they called Orville the Mayor of Infantry Post.
The years on Infantry Post were great years. The friends there were so good, I wish I was still in contact with all of them. The Haights lived up one building from us, the Marstons down one, the Thompsons across the field, among others. I remember especially Ruth Haight. She was a true redheaded Irishwoman and a staunch Catholic. She had a brother who was a priest and a sister who was a nun. The brother brought her a picture of a saint one time and she was telling me if I had any problems I could come up and pray to her picture. Then she looked at me very seriously and said, "You will go to Heaven and so will I and it will not be your church or my church that will get us there, it will be our individual faith." In the fifties that was not the feeling of most Catholics.
One day I was having a dinner party. I had planned it for a day when I had a cleaning woman so I could concentrate on cooking. That day she did not show up. Ruth called and asked how things were going and I told her about Norma. She said, "Don't worry." She and Pat Marston showed up and cleaned my entire house. That shows the kind of friends they were.
I think I came the closest ever to divorcing Orville while we lived there. I was pregnant with Dan and had told a few people but not many. I never wanted a friend for a doctor. One night we were playing bridge with the Bill and Peggy Thompson. He was an Ob-Gyn resident at Brooke Army Hospital. We mentioned that were leaving for a trip to the Black Hills in a few weeks. Bill said, "Don't you think you should have a checkup before you leave on your trip?" Before I could say anything Orville agreed I should and said he could stay home with Debbie on Thursday if he could see me then. Bill said that was fine, he would set it up. I had not been allowed a word in this conversation. I had quite a few words with Orville that night after we got home. The trip to the Black Hills was great. David and I went to the Black Hills Passion Play while Orville stayed in the motel with Doug, Diane and Debbie. It was great, but it would have been greater if we could have gotten tickets to the play for everyone.
Several months after the trip we had a baby boy and named him Dan. Had to keep the D's going or, hopefully, stopping, I am not sure which I meant. I was lucky Bill was my doctor after all. His wife asked him if I was coming home in three days and he said, "Of course not, when she gets home she will have to take care of the family. I will give her as much rest as I can," and he kept me in the hospital 7 days. I was well rested when I went home. Dan was born just a week before my birthday so I went home on my birthday and Bill's wife came over that evening with a birthday cake. Good friends.
Other good friends at that time were the Maderes but they lived on Clem Road, not on Infantry post with us. She was very Catholic and was so jealous I had my 5th child before she did. She had hers 6 months later, but she went on to have 6 more! One time while we lived there Orville and I were on a trip to Florida while having a housekeeper watch the children. When we called home, David told us my father had died. I flew home from Florida while Orville drove back to Texas by himself. Dad had been sick for a long time, had had both legs amputated due to circulatory problems and had an aortic graft because of an aneurism so we really said a prayer of thanksgiving when he died. After 5 1/2 years Orville came home one day and said he was slated for another overseas tour and was given his choice of Hawaii or Germany. There was no doubt in our minds, we would go to Germany that summer.
