Where Was I When Dad Was In Medical School – Story for Jessie

 
My Mom and Dad met in June of 1920 when they were working in Midland Chautauqua. (I’ll tell that story another time.) They fell in love and were engaged by July. In September Dad started medical school at University of Iowa in Iowa City, Iowa. Mom went back to teaching at Brooks School in Des Moines, Iowa. Dad was age 22 and Mom was age 24. Couples in those days usually did not marry until the man was able to support them both, and most women did not work outside the home after they were married. There were no women in Dad’s med school class, and none of the men were married.

They were engaged for four years, and wrote to each other every day.

In June, 1924, Dad graduated from medical school and was scheduled to start internship at Methodist Hospital in Des Moines about mid-June. Mom and Dad were married June 10, 1924. I was their first baby, and I was born in November of 1927, so they had been married 3 ½ years and Dad had been in practice 2 ½ years by then. Mom was age 31 and Dad was age 29. Quite a different story from you and Paul.

Just a little aside that has nothing to do with your question: Mom passed away just one week short of their 60th wedding anniversary, and Dad died 11 weeks later. At Dad’s funeral, a dear friend of theirs, Dr. Bone, (remember the stories about Dr. Bone and Dr. Kast?) said to me,  “I knew he wouldn’t last long without her. They had the love affair of the century.”