In 1951 we moved from Los Angeles to Fullerton, Orange County. As a Junior in High School, I remember sitting on the lawn of the quad eating my lunch. I had such a feeling of freedom. I hadn’t realized it, but in the high school, in L.A., we had a closed campus. We couldn’t leave the school grounds at all during school hours. There were guards at the gates, not permitting anyone to leave. Here in Fullerton, you could go across the street to a malt shop and order lunch.
My interest in music continued. I tried out for a select group of 8 girls. Two sang 1st Soprano, two sang 2nd Soprano, two sang 1st Alto and two sang 2nd alto. We were called the “Mello-aires”. I sang 1st alto. It was here that are teacher was trying to teach us to listen to each other so we could stay in pitch. He told the others that I had “perfect pitch”. He told them that I had the unusual ability to know when our pitch was off. I could even sing a tone on que. For example, he could say: “Give us an A, Marilyn”. I didn’t realize that this was an unusual ability. I continued with this group in my Senior year. The music teacher hired me to work for him. He taught me to write music for instruments that he didn’t have music for. When he ordered music for the band or orchestra it didn’t always come with the music for a specific instrument. I don’t remember exactly, but I had to transpose to the key of the instrument that was in the band or orchestra. This experience gave me the groundwork for wanting to learn more about music.
In the fall of 1952 I went to Fullerton Junior College. I took my first music theory class. This was where I decided I wanted to major in music and be music teacher in Jr. High. I remember distinctly taking a psychology class. We were given a test to determine our academic ability. Then we went in individually to the counselor. She asked me what my plans were for the future and I told her about wanting to be a teacher. She shook her head and said that wasn’t the best decision for me. I would not be able to go on to a university. I didn’t have the ability to go that far. My choice would be better made to find employment in the service of others that didn’t require upper education. That made me mad!!! I thought to myself, “I’ll show you”!! This test did not measure my determination. Proceeding with my education was not easy. I had to work hard for B’s, except for music!!!
During this first year of college, In October I think, I met Larry through some mutual friends. These 2 boys had heard about a dance that the church was having. They wanted to go and wanted to know if Larry could go also. They came to my house to get the tickets to go. I wasn’t planning to go. But, my mom persuaded me to go and said that they seemed like nice young men and that I needed to go to introduce them around to others. I enjoyed Larry very much, especially his sense of humor, his smile and his dark curly hair. I wanted to see him again, but didn’t know how that would happen since he wasn’t enrolled in school anymore. The class that the other boys and I were enrolled in needed to get more students to keep it open. This began a quest to find Larry and get him to take the class. This would make the prospect of seeing him again more probable. A girl friend and I began to make phone calls to see if we couldn’t interest him in taking the class. He wasn’t interested in taking the class, but we began seeing each other. Soon it turned into regular dating.
In March of 1953, the sororities were having a formal dance at a very nice hotel ballroom in Long Beach. I designed a formal of pinkish red net with a skirt that had ruffles that tapered down the side. My mother, being an excellent seamstress, made it flawlessly. Larry wore a white dinner jacket tux. He looked so handsome. Out on the balcony, overlooking the ocean, he told me he loved me. He asked me to “go steady” with him. I had begun the process of being accepted at Brigham Young University. In June I had been accepted to start my sophomore year in the fall. I was to leave for school the end of August. We decided to stop going steady and meet other people to see how serious we really were. It didn’t take long for me to be bored with the young men I was dating. In November, I was surprised to come out of one of my music classes to see a very good looking guy in a navy uniform. He was in the navy reserve at the time and had come to Utah to check out the naval facility in Salt Lake City and spend some time with me. His sea bag with his clothes and a VERY large panda bear to keep me company when I wasn’t with him was on its way to Chicago and took several days to get back to Provo. I didn’t realize it, but he was planning to attend BYU for the winter and spring quarters. He wanted to make sure he could continue his navy reserve at Fort Douglas in Salt Lake City. We found a ride home for Thanksgiving.
What a weekend Thanksgiving was!!! Larry officially asked me to marry him with an engagement ring that he picked out himself!!! The diamond came from a stick pin that belonged to his Grandpa Lutz (Philip). The romantic place (ha ha) that he gave me the ring was in his ’35 Ford roadster, parked in the grove of orange trees on the ranch of his dad. This was the ranch that he had been raised on all of his life on Orange Ave. in Anaheim. After Thanksgiving dinner at my house, we went to Aunt Grace and Uncle Arnold’s where Larry’s mom and dad were watching some big football game. We happily made our announcement. I don’t remember who else we told. Of course, my folks knew because we had dinner with them. We had no plans for a wedding date.
I LOVE the bear!
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