This is Dad (on the left) with his lifelong friend, Nick, who he met in California while serving in the military during World War 2. They never went overseas. Mom said they were secretaries for big shots in the military because they both had pretty faces. The military needs pretty faces on its surface.
At the time this picture was taken, Dad was stationed in San Diego and he had a wife and child back in Texas. The child, Bonnie Lou, suffered from cerebral palsy and would not live to see her 4th birthday. Somewhere in Dad’s military paperwork there was a letter from Dad’s first wife, Hester. She made an appeal for her husband to be released from the military early, describing her need for help back home with their disabled child.
I don’t know if he was released early, but I know that he always despised his memories of the military. The only story he ever told about that stint was the time that he terminated his relationship with them. The marine behind the desk was trying to convince him to stay in the military. “Don’t you know that once you’re a marine, you’re always a marine?” and Dad likes to brag that he responded, “Then I guess I never was a marine, because I’m leaving.”
My eldest sister, Nancy Lee,
with her mother, Hester.
Dad returned to Texas, while Nick stayed in California for the rest of his life. Nick got a few small parts in movies over the years. He married an actress who was more successful than he was and it appears he lived a good life. No children.
Even though I never met him, Nick is the reason that I’ve been called “Kay” for the past 74 years. He came to Texas to visit us, just after I was born. He didn’t stay long, my mother said, because she told Dad that he had to leave. Mom said Nick was a bum and that’s all she ever had to say about him.
Nick had not inherited what she had, so she felt entitled to say that.
My parents named me Kathryn Deborah. Nick said that was too big a name for such a tiny child and that they should call me Kay. That’s what I’ve been called ever since.
Nick sent Dad all of his portfolio pictures, which my father preserved for the next 70 years.
Dad went back to Texas and conceived a second child with Hester. Her name was Nancy Lee. I’ve written a number of stories about her since she was one of the greater loves of my life. Bonnie Lou passed away before any of us met her. Nancy could barely remember her mother. She was five when she came to live with us, the year I was born.
Our mother was very surprised and upset. She’d just given birth to her second child when she learned that her husband had been married before and had a five year old daughter from the marriage. He had to bring Nancy home at the age of five when her mother passed away from cancer. My mother was furious and made my big sister feel like an unwelcome guest for the remainder of her life.
Oikos 