By Donna Houser
In the 1950s, North High School played in the Ark Valley league because there were only two high schools in Wichita, besides one Catholic school.
My mother or father always took five girls, including me to all of the ball games. On Feb. 11, we were playing El Dorado. Back then, El Dorado had a junior college that was in the high school, so there were a bunch of JUCO kids at the game.
North High won, and one of the JUCO boys came down to where we were sitting and invited us to come to the Cage, which was a teen center at that time. So mother said she’d take us, and we went in. There was dancing, cards, pool, and all sorts of things.
I was asked to dance by the president of the JUCO class. While dancing, he said, “One of my really good friends wants to dance with you. Are you game?” I said, “I don’t know, dance me by him, and I’ll decide.”
Well, he did, and there stood this good-looking guy with dark brown eyes. So I broke away from Jerry, my dance partner, and said to Ray, “I heard you wanted to dance with me but were afraid to ask.” He just about passed out. But I took his hand and we walked to the dance floor where we danced for the rest of the evening. He then asked if all of us would like to go to the Edge, a drive-in with inside service. Mother took us there, and a bunch of the JUCO guys were there.
Well, I ended up asking if they’d like to meet us at the sock hop the next night at North High’s gym. So five of them came. Again, I danced all evening with him. So, I invited him over to a brunch the next day. My mother served roast beef and chicken salad sandwiches. At that time, we didn’t drink pop or have chips. Afterward, it was a beautiful February day and we went over to Riverside park, and sat and talked right by the Arkansas River. I told Ray, I could fall in love with him. I really liked him. Well, he about fainted over that, too.
Back then, he was poor, and he didn’t have a car, and one of his friends started dating one of the other girls who was with us that night, so he brought Ray over the next Friday night. This went on for two years, until he was trying to get into the Air Force Academy, and failed the hearing test, but passed with flying colors on all of the other tests. They kept him at the academy for a week to see if it was just the high altitude, but it wasn’t. Knowing he was too poor to go to college (way before scholarships) he tried to join the Marines, but his football-damaged knees caused him to fail the fitness test. So, he had a chance to play football at Winfield College, and I left to go to Temple in Pennsylvania.
By that time, we were too busy to write letters, and couldn’t afford to call. Meanwhile, he tore up a knee, and he couldn’t afford knee surgery, so he quit and joined the drillers on oil wells to make some money. He had worked part time on wells from the time he was 16.
However, then, he got drafted into the Korean War. Needless to say, they wanted him in the infantry. Didn’t matter if he could hear high frequency sounds or had a bad knee, he was in. So, we wrote back and forth some, but I started dating a guy from Wharton’s Business College. We dated for a year and a half, and he asked me to come home with him on Thanksgiving, so I did. He wanted me to meet his folks. Well, this was a startling event because they were quite rich, and each meal was formal. A waiter poured my water, placed my napkin in my lap, etc., but it was weird for me. However, on Saturday night, Bob asked me if I’d wear his fraternity pin. Then, he kissed me, and I guess I called him, Ray. He said, “Who’s Ray?” I said, “What?” He said “you’ve called me that several times, and I need to know who Ray is.”
Needless to say, I didn’t wear his pin, and he told me I’d better contact Ray and figure out if I loved him. So I wrote Ray a letter. He wrote right back, and came home for Christmas.
He met me along with my mother at the train. My mother was shocked. We dated every night. I went back to Temple and graduated and he went back to Washington to serve the rest of his time. But, again, he was playing football for the Army. So we planned a wedding after he got out in May, and we married on June 19, 1969.
We loved each other, and besides being lovers, he was my best friend, and companion. Our love story continued with two girls, 57 years, lacking three months when he died. But, I still love him.
