Steve and I were married on June 5, 1960.  He was 23 and I was 19.  My age probably sounds way too young but we all married young in those days.  There are two reasons why this was so.  First virginity was all the rage back then.  Secondly, our mothers scared us to death with their threats and warnings.  I was convinced that people could tell ‘I had done it’ just by looking in my eyes.  Therefore, because we were all horny we married young.

Our honeymoon was spent driving to Milwaukee, Wisconsin where Steve had a summer job with General Electric.  We planned to move to Lincoln, Nebraska in the fall.  Steve had a fellowship at the University of Nebraska for his Master’s in Bio-Medical Engineering and I had a scholarship to complete my B.S, in math.  I planned to look for a summer job in Milwaukee the day after we arrived.  The next morning I got up early and proceeded to go from office to office soliciting employment.  Nobody had any summer jobs left.  I went to General Electric where Steve worked.  They were extraordinarily nice to me.  The interviewer gave me this IQ test that they give to all prospective employees.  After the test, he went over all the questions and my answers pointing out where I went wrong.  He even went over the questions I didn’t have time to answer.  Finally, he told me all their summer jobs were taken and I left.

The next place I went to was AC Sparkplug.  Since I had to have a job and all the summer jobs were gone, I decided to lie out of necessity.  I didn’t even mention that I was interested in summer employment.  First, they gave me a typing test and then a shorthand test.  All through high school, I took all the secretarial courses offered because someday I might need a job.  All the women I knew were either secretaries, school teachers, nurses, or telephone operators.  It never occurred to me that I could get a job using my math education.  I could type and take shorthand at phenomenal speeds.   I am sure he was impressed.

After that was over, the interviewer gave me an IQ test.  When I looked at it, I saw it was the same test I had just taken at General Electric and I knew all the answers.  I have no idea what the highest score you can score on an IQ test but whatever it is I scored it.  The final question was did I have any experience.  That through me.  Then I remembered I sometimes worked for my aunt.  She was in business for herself and typed land abstracts.  I would help her proofread for which she paid me.  So I put my aunt’s name down not mentioning we were related.  They sent aunt Onie a telegram checking out my performance.   Aunt Onie had never received such a telegram before and didn’t know what to do with it.  So, she called my Dad.  My Dad was Personnel Director of Humble Oil Company and he knew just what to do with it.   All he said was  “I’ll take care of it for you.”
The very next day I got the job.