The Kissing Tree

This happened on June 22, 1948. I had the whole summer off because the crop had been bought out by the Milwaukee Railroad (we'll save that for another story!). I had a brand new Chevrolet to run around with, and had a girlfriend who ended up jilting me and marrying another man and had a kid. I thought she was going to try and rope me back in.

I was invited to go to a picnic at Clear Lake by my brother Donald's wife and her immediate family. I had seen a picture of Mickey in one of the uncle's houses and thought she was too pretty to take interest in me. I chauffeured an elderly couple up to the picnic. Everyone was milling around drinking beer and pop. It wasn't long before I noticed a tall thin blond sitting on the hood of my new car. I was a little concerned she was going to smash it down, but she was pretty light. She was sipping on a big quart sized beer. I was already known to be a complete teetotaller. Elsie, Donald's first wife, introduced me to the blond, Mickey.

Mickey didn't waste any time, she grabbed my hand and Elsie tagged along as we went for a walk. We crossed the top of the dam, which had a very narrow walkway. I was taking pictures with my 16mm movie camera from the edge of the lake. Elsie ended up heading back to the picnic, and Mickey and I continued to walk farther and farther around the lake. The area was undeveloped, but had been logged. I took 16mm pictures of Mickey sitting on a knocked down tree. We hadn't gotten to the tip of the lake yet, as it was a really big lake. We found a crick to cross that fed the lake. It was rushing from melt off from the mountain snow. I went down to the edge of the stream and found the most shallow place for crossing. I crossed the crick and the last few feet was about chest high. I put my camera down on a stump on the other side and went back. Mickey was wondering how she was going to get over. She didn't want to wade the water.

Before we discussed any further, I leaned her up against a pine tree and kissed her. This became the 'Kissing Tree'. After that, I carried her across the crick on my back.

I've got some movies - the sun was at our back, and the trail was ahead, and I was reaching over to her and she was joking and pushing my hand away - that's all on film.

By the time we got back, everyone had gone home. There was a loaf of bread on the table and some cheese. Mickey sliced off some of the bread and a thick slice of cheese. I noticed how she flipped the bread when she put the sandwich together. She was wearing a green scarf over her hair. I liked her ears.

We had the opportunity to drive home in the car, and I stopped along the way taking movies of the dam. I don't know what we did for our first 'date' - we probably went to a hamburger stand.

We courted for five months and got married that November.