World War II sent two men of the family away from home, but drew all of the women closer together.
Sam Durham went to the Pacific. As an engineer, he designed and built airports for bombers and fighter-planes.
Sonny enlisted in the Army Air Corps. He had good co-ordination and exceptional eye-sight, traits which were coveted in pilots. He departed for basic training and then flight school.
Mary, Madlyn and JoAnn took secretarial jobs. Genaveve had a small daughter and stayed at home. Sadie found herself with only one boyfriend: Bubba Whitley. Bubba had been declared 4-F: physically unfit to serve in the armed services. Thanks to the war, there were few young men left in San Antonio to compete with him for female attention.
No one could understand what Sadie saw in Bubba. He was tall and thin with thick, black hair brushed back from his forehead. He had thick, red lips and sunken cheeks; his dark skin had acne scars. He had an oily, grasping manner. He had every appearance of dishonesty and his words seemed insincere. Mr. Stone, usually aloof, was openly hostile...especially when Sadie said that she planned to marry Bubba. Mr. Stone eventually gave his grudging (though un-necessary) consent. The marriage occurred shortly before the end of the war and Bubba had his trophy wife...for a while.
On a routine training mission near the Rocky Mountains, Sonny's plane strayed to a dangerous altitude and his eardrum burst, grounding him for the rest of the war. He would be given billets which would allow Mary to live and travel with him...she joined him in a flash. The next two years were spent traveling around the country; they befriended and entertained with other military couples, all feeling somewhat guilty in passing the war under such pleasant circumstances. In the early summer of 1945, Sonny was notified that he was being discharged and that he should return to San Antonio to be mustered out. On the way home, he and Mary made a stop-over in the small (then) cross-roads town of Las Vegas. Nine months later, they tell me, I was born...
Sam returned from the Pacific with his regimental mascot, a cocker-spaniel named "Jigger." He rejoined the highway department. He would be transferred to Kerrville to open a new construction office.
Walter Conring's cattle ranch, thanks largely to the war, prospered.
George Saliba's fledgling business began to grow.
Sonny returned to his old job and was given a sales territory between San Antonio south to Laredo. He opened many accounts. A large number of them were in Corpus Christi.
Returning home one day, Bubba walked into his home to find Sadie entertaining several of her pre-war suitors. They were drinking his booze. He was not gracious, but they would return, thinking of him (as did most people) a "skinny draft dodger." There were several separations and, finally, a divorce.
In 1947, to everyone's shock and sorrow, Jessie died of a heart attack. Sonny and Mary moved into the house on Cumberland. Mary continued to paint, gaining some commissions. Sonny continued gathering accounts to the south, often gone for most of the week.
Mary never pictured herself as a house-wife. She learned to cook a few meals from her mother and Sonny's sisters, but she was not an enthusiastic student. She would rather dress up and go shopping or meet someone for lunch, not attend to washing and ironing. From then on, she would always have a maid or cleaning lady.
Then, in 1950, Sonny was given a promotion...
(continued...)
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