My Dad said to my Mom one day, "Ruth, how would you like to mend my socks for the rest of your life?" And she affirmed that she would. He gave her a ring with a pretty blue zircon in it -- the best he could afford on $1 a day, and with that he fulfilled his teenage vow to wait until she grew up and then marry her!
Your great grandparents, Ruth G. Watson & Paul Clifford Cain, were married on June 3, 1942 at the Baptist Church in Littleton.Rev. Trites officiated at the ceremony. A friend of Mom's -- Phyllis Shaw Foren played piano. Aunt Iola attended my Mom and Uncle Lawrence was my Dad's best man. I remember seeing pictures of them after the wedding -- she was wearing a white gown and veil with fresh lillies of the valley pinned to them and was carrying fresh lilacs. Someday I hope to find a copy of that picture in one of my mother's albums and publish it here for all of you to see. Mom said that her wedding was the first one held in the Littleton Baptist Church for many years. My cousin Mark (Nason) was sitting in the front seat. Just as the ceremony was about to end, Mark jumped up on the pew and yelled, "Can I call her AUNT, now?"
Grampie Paul's employer provided a house on "Flea Ridge" in Monticello to them for $0 rent. Grammie Muriel and Marion Tompkins helped clean and wallpaper that house before the wedding. My parents were SO proud of the house -- people bought linoleum flooring for 3 rooms for wedding gifts: the kitchen, the living room, and their bedroom. There was a little den downstairs with a $3 desk and couch. There was no electricity in the house and it could only be occupied in the summer because the road was not plowed in the winter. They stayed at that house for three summers: 1942-1944.
In April of 1945 (around the time my cousin Andrea was born), my Dad joined the Navy. He went through basic training and the further training he needed to ship out. He was a member of the Navy choir. Mom said the first time she ever heard "Where You There When They Crucified My Lord" was when my father sang it with the naval choir. She said it was beautiful. While he was stationed in Gulfport, Mississippi Mom left me with Grammie Muriel and Grampie Ellery and went to visit him for a few weeks. She had a room near the base and they saw each other as often as they could. She said they used to walk together to where the Salvation Army was having street services. Just as he was about to be shipped out in the fall of 1945, he was discharged from the Navy to go back home to the farm.
[Just a note about Mrs. Tompkins: She lived in a house across the street from my grandparents in Littleton. The house sat between Alton Wotton's barn and US Route 1. When I was three, my Mom and Dad bought that house and moved it to the little 50 acre farm where I spent the rest of my growing up years.]
Your great grandparents, Ruth G. Watson & Paul Clifford Cain, were married on June 3, 1942 at the Baptist Church in Littleton.Rev. Trites officiated at the ceremony. A friend of Mom's -- Phyllis Shaw Foren played piano. Aunt Iola attended my Mom and Uncle Lawrence was my Dad's best man. I remember seeing pictures of them after the wedding -- she was wearing a white gown and veil with fresh lillies of the valley pinned to them and was carrying fresh lilacs. Someday I hope to find a copy of that picture in one of my mother's albums and publish it here for all of you to see. Mom said that her wedding was the first one held in the Littleton Baptist Church for many years. My cousin Mark (Nason) was sitting in the front seat. Just as the ceremony was about to end, Mark jumped up on the pew and yelled, "Can I call her AUNT, now?"
The reception was held at the Grange Hall in Littleton. Grammie, Mrs. Tompkins (a friend who lived across the street from Grammie Muriel), ladies of the Church made the refreshments; John Boyd (who became Aunt Barbara's husband) bought a washtub full of peanuts for the reception.
Grampie Paul's employer provided a house on "Flea Ridge" in Monticello to them for $0 rent. Grammie Muriel and Marion Tompkins helped clean and wallpaper that house before the wedding. My parents were SO proud of the house -- people bought linoleum flooring for 3 rooms for wedding gifts: the kitchen, the living room, and their bedroom. There was a little den downstairs with a $3 desk and couch. There was no electricity in the house and it could only be occupied in the summer because the road was not plowed in the winter. They stayed at that house for three summers: 1942-1944. In April of 1945 (around the time my cousin Andrea was born), my Dad joined the Navy. He went through basic training and the further training he needed to ship out. He was a member of the Navy choir. Mom said the first time she ever heard "Where You There When They Crucified My Lord" was when my father sang it with the naval choir. She said it was beautiful. While he was stationed in Gulfport, Mississippi Mom left me with Grammie Muriel and Grampie Ellery and went to visit him for a few weeks. She had a room near the base and they saw each other as often as they could. She said they used to walk together to where the Salvation Army was having street services. Just as he was about to be shipped out in the fall of 1945, he was discharged from the Navy to go back home to the farm.
[Just a note about Mrs. Tompkins: She lived in a house across the street from my grandparents in Littleton. The house sat between Alton Wotton's barn and US Route 1. When I was three, my Mom and Dad bought that house and moved it to the little 50 acre farm where I spent the rest of my growing up years.]
My parents allowed themselves a luxury every Thursday for quite some time after they were married. Each week Thursday marked another "anniversary" for them and they celebrated with a 5-cent bottle of Strawberry Pop (soda) and a pint of vanilla ice cream (25 cents or so). They worked very hard and allowed themselves little more than the necessities of life, but the weekly floats were a luxury to them and they really looked forward to celebration of that day when they became man and wife!
When they first went to the house on the night of the wedding, they opened the door into the hallway and found a man lying on the stairs. This really scared Mom. But it was a trick by some of my Dad's "guy" friends, who had made a mannekin and put it there as a "welcome home" surprise. The mannekin was made of straw and wore my Dad's bib overalls, one of his hats and shirts and had on his hip waders. As if that wasn't enough, when my parents went to their bedroom, they found that the spring and mattress were missing from their bed. So Grampie Paul went to search for that. Eventually he found the mattress up in the hay mow of the barn. They found out later that the same friends had hidden behind the barn to make sure he found the mattress before they left. [Let me say it was common to play all sorts of tricks on the newly weds back then. Those guys were just doing their duty.]
My parents had no vehicle in their early days, but Uncle Lawrence loaned them a car. Mom was going to have to drive herself in it to Houlton to work but she didn't know how to drive. So Uncle Lawerence put her in the driver's seat and taught her the art of driving on a trip from Littleton to Caribou. Once there, the examining officer asked Grammie Ruth if she had studied the law book and she said, "no". He gave her TEN minutes to study the book and then gave her the exam and she scored 90%. After the road test he told her he was going to issue the license for ONE reason: he never wanted to ride with her in a car again!
At some point my parents thought they ought to buy tires for Uncle Lawrence's car, but both tires and gas were rationed because of WWII. In time they found a man who had an old car and they asked how much the tires would be. He said he would sell them for $5 apiece if they bought all four. If, however, they would like to have the car also, the price would be $25. So they bought it. This wasn't "cheap" since Grammie Ruth was earning $18 a week and Grampie Paul was earning $15 each week.
Their ration cards would not allow enough gasoline for both of them to travel to and from work. So Grammie Ruth continued to drive Uncle Lawrence's car to the court house in Houlton, where she worked. Grampie Paul drove the $25 car to the McCluskey farm on the back roads so he wouldn't be caught burning kerosene in it. Mom said the amazing thing is that car engine lasted like nothing she ever saw. It served the $25 car well and eventually became the engine for one of Grampie Ellery's well drilling rigs!
I remember seeing the ration cards. I also remember that sugar was rationed and the only time we had icing on a cake was for a birthday. I still remember the confusion when Grammie Kitt (My Dad's mother) served a frosted cake one Sunday. It was NOBODY'S birthday! I could not figure that out.
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