18a Parade of Girls begins

Parade of Girls begins

I have learned that maleness and femaleness are created by God to propagate species, and don’t exist in His kingdom – ultimately permanent spiritual beauty replaces temporary physical attractiveness; accordingly He adds attractiveness for the brief season of fruitful ripeness.  Each individual gets only one, to remain mates for life.  As He prepared me for all this, I knew and dated several girls.  At first, most were from Girls’ Preparatory School (GPS), Brainerd or church, or all three; as time passed, I moved farther afield.  I remember most:

  1. Harriet S – GPS, Brainerd; I was asked to supper at her house (my mom drove me).
  2. Nancy A – GPS, Brainerd; I knew her from swimming; she lived with her widowed mother; I was taught dancing in their house; I drove her to the lake one evening.
  3. Vicki F – GPS, Brainerd; I went to church with her, driving, to a Baylor dance, and a Round Table banquet.
  4. Jan F – St Andrew’s; driving with Jan, I drove my mom’s 1955 Ford into a snow-bank on Signal mountain (it seldom snowed).
  5. Barbara J – Emory; we met at the Chi Phi house; I took her to parties.  (Later when I looked her up and talked to her in her office, she was married and managing a motel north of Atlanta.)
  6. Eleanor P – Emory; graduate student in French; Once I had dinner with her and her roommate at their apartment.
  7. Enid S- Emory; we met at a frat party. (I met her several years later at a flophouse in southern Atlanta.)
  8. Jan F – Emory; she was on a debate team from a south GA high school; we flew kites on the grounds at Emory’s Candler estate.
  9. Ann D – Emory; she was a teller at Citizens & Southern National Bank in downtown Atlanta; after a few dates, I had dinner with her at her mom’s home in Dalton GA.
  10. Diane B – Brainerd; we dated regularly; she lived with her  mother and grandmother near my uncle’s house; once we went to a football game at East Ridge High School, where she had been a cheerleader (and where my mother was librarian).  She worked part-time at Kay’s ice cream shop on Brainerd Road, and was excited about starting Presbyterian College on Lookout Mountain.
  11. Janice B – Brainerd; we played board games in their home; she gave me an IZOD sweater for Christmas.
  12. Phyllis O – St Andrew’s; her parents hosted the church youth group in Highland Park; we went to the Provident lake property.
  13. Kathy M – GA Tech; she lived with her divorced lawyer mom and spoiled prep school little brother in their cluttered house on US 41 in Marietta GA (about 20 miles north of Tech); I kept my motorcycle there.
  14. Patsy H – Brainerd; we were set up by family friends.
  15. Jan W – Nashville; we met on a Greyhound bus, riding to Chattanooga; she lived with her uncle and his wife; he owned a Martin guitar and 1959 Chevrolet; this girl was an overnight guest in our home (stayed in my sister’s apartment).
  16. Margaret S – Newport; we met when I was on leave from OCS; she lived with her parents off Thames Street; I had a Sunday dinner in their home.
  17. Kay M – Pensacola; she was a member from my first church after I was saved; I went often to the near-beach house she shared with her younger brother and their parents; she was my fiancée briefly, though a high school senior; she pinned on my wings.