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28 The Story of Terrel and Juliette Dressel

working in a supply house that supported missiles. I participated
in maneuvers, during which we camped out in fields and prac-
ticed for wartime. During my stay in Germany, I traveled to Brus-
sels, Belgium for the 1958 World’s Fair and also to many cities in

Germany. Some nights, my buddies and I would go out to bars. I
had a few drinks while my friends smoked and drank. Once, they
offered me a cigarette and I tried smoking, only to wake up with

an awful headache. I never accepted another cigarette again.
I missed home during the year I spent in Germany. I wrote
to my mother and many girls from Loreauville, including Juliette,
who was a great pen pal. I was thrilled to return home and live
with my parents while attending classes at Southwestern Louisi-

ana Institute in Lafayette.
At first, I didn’t know what to major in. Then, I remembered
that I had enjoyed my bookkeeping class in high school. I gave

accounting a try and stuck with it. Since I had been in the mil-
itary for two years and was more mature than most freshman,
I pushed myself to take as many hours as I could successfully
carry, including summer courses. Consequently, I completed my
college in three years. I also took a job bookkeeping at the Sugar

Oaks Country Club while attending college.
My first semester cost me nineteen dollars, which Mom and
Dad helped me fund. To get to and from campus from Loreau-

ville, my friends and I would carpool to Lafayette early each
morning and stay until the evening when the last participant’s lat-
est class ended. I spent hours studying, getting to know everyone
in the accounting department, and doing detailed homework that
taught me hands-on about accounting.