TULARE'S HISTORY
by Derryl Dumermuth
Retired TUHS mathematics teacher,
author of "A Town Called Tulare",
and co-author with his wife, Wanda,
of "Tulare Legends and Trivia from A to Z".
Tulare Historical Musuem
June seems to be the month for weddings, perhaps because June is the time for two other defining moments in the life of young adults - graduation and the start of a career. Some romantics might choose Valentine's Day, or sometime during that month for their nuptials. Practical couples consider tying the knot in late December - perhaps even December 31 - to take advantage of the IRS dependent rules. But Wanda and I chose June - June 6, 1947 to be exact. Before "Destination Weddings" became popular, our marriage was solemnized in the Methodist Church in Fayette, Iowa.
We had graduated from high school together six years earlier but had dated infrequently until the summer of 1946, when she returned to her parents' farm in Iowa after her first year of teaching in Florence, Arizona, and I came home after my discharge from the Marine Corps.
Trained as teachers, we found a school that needed both a math teacher and a vocal music instructor. The town was New Providence, about 60 miles north of Des Moines, population 200, high school enrollment 65, mostly farm youngsters. My contract called for an annual salary of $2400, but the week before school started the school board decided to promote me to high school principal which paid an additional $200. Now part of the "administration" (the only other administrator was the superintendent) I taught only five math and science classes - the other teachers taught six.
The only available house in town belonged to a widow who stored furniture in two of the five rooms. The house was equipped with electricity and telephone but no running water or central heating. A fresh water well and pump were conveniently located on the front porch, and a septic tank and leaching field took care of sewage. There was no municipal water system until 1949. The rent was only $15 per month. The landlady even let us use her antique refrigerator - one of those with four legs and cooling coil on top. During the brutal Iowa winters the little house was heated by an oil-burning space heater.
So what was the world like in 1947? World War II had ended two years earlier and the Korean conflict had not yet started. The world was weary of war. The Marshall plan was rebuilding a devastated Europe and Douglas Mac Arthur ruled Japan.
Jackie Robinson joined the Brooklyn Dodgers that year, the first black to play major league baseball. But even though he batted .297 and was named rookie of the year, his team lost the World Series to the Yankees, 4 games to 3. Closer to home, Illinois defeated UCLA 45 to 13 in the Rose Bowl, while Johnny Lujack of Notre Dame won the Heisman Trophy.
Salaries were low, but so were prices - Gasoline sold for 24 cents a gallon and bread was 10 cents a loaf. A Buick Roadmaster could be purchased for $2,800 - that is if you could find one at your local dealer so soon after the end of rationing. A postcard could be mailed for one penny, a first class letter for 3 cents - half that if the envelope was unsealed (the post office actually sold half cent stamps).
Aluminum Foil made its first appearance in 1947, and Betty Crocker was born, fully-grown, with the first cake mix in her hand. Raytheon marketed the first microwave oven - a monster standing nearly six feet tall and weighing 750 pounds.
The Oscar winning movie of 1947 was "The Best Years of Our Lives", a story about World War II veterans struggling to reenter society. Frederic March was named Best Actor; Olivia de Havilland Best Actress. TV was in its infancy, but long-lasting programs that debuted that year included "Meet the Press" and "Howdy Doody ". Popular music was brought to us by the "Big Bands - orchestras led by Benny Goodman, Duke Ellington, Stan Kenton, Glenn Miller, and others. One of my favorite songs from that time was, and still is, "It Might as Well be Spring" from the movie "State Fair".
Some called the era of the 1940's the "Good Old Days". But how many of us would willingly go back to that simpler time without automatic washers and dryers, perma press, television, air conditioning in home and car, computers, cell phones, jet planes, and other marvels of the last half of the 20th century. Upon reflection, I for one could do without the annoying cell phone.
Derryl Dumermuth is a retired TUHS mathematics teacher, author of "A Town Called Tulare", and co-author with his wife, Wanda, of "Tulare Legends and Trivia from A to Z". Both books were written as fund-raisers for the Tulare Historical Museum and can be purchased in the museum's gift shop.