History/Herstory of Cliff and Marilyn Long 1957
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History/herstory of Cliff and Marilyn Long 1957--got engaged in April, Marilyn worked at Research Hospital in Galesburg after completing 3 semesters at U of Ill. in Champaign-Urbana in January, went to Ill. Research Hospital in April and, after one quarter, graduated with a BSN in June. When Cliff finished school in June, he drove to New London, Ct. where he worked at Electric Boat in Groton for the summer. Marilyn flew to LaGuardia a few days after graduation. She worked at Lawrence Memorial Hospital that summer & lived in the nurse's residence there. Leaving Connecticut on August 31, we drove to Chicago, stopped briefly (Cliff's folks had unexpected visitors--2 couples from Canada) & continued on to Delong, stopping to visit Diane and four in Laura where they were visiting Al's folks. There was a community shower and one given by Diane & Louise in the few days before our wedding on Sept. 7. Bob Lawson sang, Louise Cline played the violin, Arla Peck played the organ (Marilyn was flower girl at her wedding the same day many years earlier). Tom Lisle and Rog Hawkins were ushers, Rich Oberg best man. Pat Horan & Nancy Leigh were bridesmaids & Diane Noland matron of honor. The reception was held in the church basement--punch, cake, nuts & mints. The Ozarks was our honeymoon destination & the AAA motel we'd chosen to stay in didn't live up to its publicity so we moved! Since it was past Labor Day, things were much quieter there than earlier. We moved into the 2nd story of a house on Park St. owned by the Leasures--elderly folks, very nice (except that they didn't keep it very warm). Marilyn went to work for the public health dept., visiting new babies, schools, helping with clinics. She had to WORK to find things to list that she'd done & didn't enjoy the job (Cliff had to deal with tears OFTEN)...but it was nice to work days & have weekends off! Cliff worked hard to pass his orals...& did. His advisor was Pierce Ketchum. 1958--We left C-U to return to New London in June, stopping along the way to meet Canadian relatives who hadn't been able to come to our wedding. Marilyn became suspicious that she was pregnant, went to Frederick Goodrich in N.L. & she was right. She purchased the Natural Childbirth book he'd written & it stood her in good stead in preparing for the big event. Marilyn worked at the Navy Submarine Base Hospital but with corpsmen there to do a lot, she certainly wasn't overworked. Cliff was present for the launching of one of the nuclear submarines from Electric Boat. Since the two often worked different shifts & weren't able to eat together often, Marilyn ate a great deal of watermelon which appealed to her...& Cliff lost his taste for that food from having it so much! Returning to Champaign in September, Marilyn went to work in the pediatrics dept. at Burnham Hospital in Champaign. The nurse who coordinated the pediatrics class had a back injury so Marilyn was asked to fill in & did, earning the princely amount of $300 a mo.--her career high. Cliff continued working on his Ph.D. We went to Chicago to celebrate Thanksgiving (Nov. 26-28). While there, we went to see Emil Falk & got together with the Lawsons & Obergs. We went to Delong for Christmas & were there from the 24th-29th. Gammons got there at ll pm on the 26th & we opened gifts til 1:30 a.m.! Crazy! 1959--I worked til Feb. 7 to allow 2 weeks before the due date of our baby. We were now living in the 2nd story of a house on Church St. owned by Mrs. Ehrgott, who had a severely retarded son living with her. We asked if we might buy a wringer washer in order to do laundry when the new baby arrived. Mrs. Ehrgott replied that the baby would be trained in 6 weeks so we really wouldn't need one (!). When we agreed to pay an additional amount to cover the cost of water and heating it, she relented. The McKinleywed group at church had a square dance on Feb. 13 which we attended with Don & Mary Noonan & enjoyed very much. Early on Feb. 14, I awoke and felt sure that that would be the day when our baby was born. It took some coaxing to get Cliff up at 4. While he shaved, he put on the record, "Brigadoon" which was his valentine to me. When we got to Burhham Hosp. at 5:30, the o.b. nurses assured us that the baby wouldn't arrive for hours, didn't call Dr. Nichols & wouldn't give me anything for pain. Finally around 7, they called him & he ordered demerol. Dr. N. arrived at 8 and Steven Allan put in an appearance at 8:13. On the way to my room, they let me phone Mom and Dad. They were thrilled to have a grandson born on their 36th anniversary. Dr. Nichols discouraged me from nursing--didn't think I could be successful(!). Since our insurance paid a flat $75, I only stayed in the hospital 3 days. Mom, Dad & Sam came the next evening and Mom stayed to do things for us for a week. She took the bus home on Feb. 26. Steve was very jaundiced but that cleared up pretty quickly. Since Steve was a whole week early, we hadn't gone out to purchase frivolous things like diapers or a washing machine so Cliff was mighty busy doing those things while we were in the hospital! Cliff's parents, Gram Miller and Mina Finch were among our first visitors on the 22nd. We were showered with gifts. In April we made visits to DePauw in Greencastle, IN and to Bowling Green, OH with our little one. Cliff had interviews at both schools. In Bowling Green we stayed on the fourth floor of the student union which was observing its first birthday! We were noticed by students as we headed to our room with diaper pail, sterilizer and baby! We had dinner with Dr. Frank Ogg, chair of the math dept. in the Pheasant Room of the Union that evening. Dr. Ogg ate quickly so he could hold Steve! From there we went to Emerson Schuck's home (where Kepke's now live). He was dean of LAS (& Marilyn Beattie's brother). Cliff went right to the top--interviews with provost Ken McFall and President Ralph McDonald. Dr. McDonald made the job offer to Cliff ($5700 to be raised to $6200 when he got his Ph.D.). After some consideration, Cliff accepted. At a later time, we came back to look at housing. We wanted to rent a house--3 were available! We weren't impressed with the first 2 but liked the 3rd. It was located at 1220 E. Wooster which at that time was Route 6--& no truck by-pass! It was a small house--2 small bedrooms, a living-dining room, small kitchen and bath. At one time, after WWII, as many as 8 students had lived downstairs (Chuck Codding had lived there). The beds, bedding and a crummy shower/stool were still available and Bill Shmeltz, who owned the house, left it up to us whether we'd rent to students or not. The rent was $105 a month. We chose to rent to 2 students (women were required to live in campus housing so we rented to men!) and that worked out very well except in one instance. On occasion a student would tell us he could hear sounds indicating the man next door was mistreating his wife--Vera & Bob Hutton. Later they divorced and Bob then married our future neighbor, Treva Miller! Small world! Huttons moved out while we still lived there & the next tenants (the Coxes) invited us to look at the interior of the house (to our east). Someone had made holes in the walls! (with his fists?). Our neighbors to the west were Mr. Hiers and his daughter, Iris. They were nice neighbors & thought a lot of Stevie. After Mr. Hiers died, Iris bought a Falcon auto tho' she didn't know how to drive. It was one of those proverbial cars which was driven by a little old lady to church once a week--except in this case, Iris didn't even drive there since she never learned to drive. We had wonderful neighbors in Champaign too. Mel Brewer and his wife and her mother, Mrs. Wines, adopted Stevie. Mel was connected with the athletic dept. & after we left, was involved in a slush fund scandal at U. of I. & we were sorry to learn about that. Mrs. Wines was very sorry to see us leave. Jim & Jean Baldwin helped us load up a U Haul in early Sept. and we headed east to Bowling Green. The U Haul wasn't fully enclosed--had canvas across the end and... you guessed it, it rained! We had to unpack as soon as we got there since some of the boxes were wet. There was no electricity turned on so Cliff went next door and Mr. Hiers told him where the utilities building was & the power was turned on right away. Aside from pots n pans, dishes, etc, we had very little furniture. There was no stove or refrigerator. Stevie had his crib but we slept on mattresses brought up from downstairs...til we noticed small insects on them so we took them outdoors to air & get fumigated! We had the card table and chairs which Fred & Louise had given us as wedding gifts and a Crosley TV, borrowed from Doris Lapp, with a tiny screen & huge cabinet.