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Chapter 12: Dating

In junior high, I attended an occasional private party of a group
of good kids, boys and girls. I took Betty Grove to a couple of mov-
ies, but that was the extent of my social action with the girls. As a
freshman at West High I realized I was going to have to learn how to
dance. I asked Betty Grove to teach me. We went to the Covey’s Coco-
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kind enough to teach me a few dance steps.
In September 1936, I was a freshman at West High when the
State Fair was held. My Dad was always great about giving us passes to
the Fair and providing tickets to the various carnival rides. I took Enid
Ashton, an old friend from junior high, and my buddy Osborne Allen
took a girl named Jean Elkins. We all had a good time on the carnival
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time I had met Jean. We had attended the 8 and 9 grade in the same
junior high, but it was a big school and we had never had a class to-
gether. I thought Jean was a pretty girl with lovely complexion and rosy
cheeks, pretty blue eyes, pretty brown hair and great fun to be with. At
West High we were assigned to the same home room class and had an
opportunity to see one another frequently. She was interesting to talk to
and always had a happy attitude.
On June 20, 1937, I turned 16 years old. I went to the State
Capitol, where I passed the written and driving tests to secure a Utah
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to town. Dad had tickets, as the circus tent was erected on the State Fair-
grounds. As usual, my Dad was very generous and let me borrow the
family car for the evening. We had my brother Gord, a girlfriend, and
another couple (Ozzie Allen and Jean Elkins) on this triple date. We saw
the circus from the good seats Dad had provided and afterwards Enida
and I got separated for a few minutes from the other two couples as we
worked our way through the huge crowd to where our car was parked. I
put my hand into my pants pocket to retrieve the car keys and they were
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