Immediately after being dismissed I checked out of the Hansen Widow’s home. That day I caught the Utah Idaho Central Electric Railway to Logan. There I spent the night at my cousin Lonnie’s home. It was with Lonnie that I was to reside while attending Utah State University during the 1934 winter and spring quarters. The following day I returned to my home in Ogden. My time away from home while working at Hyrum dam had been near five months. It was the longest time away from home that I had ever experienced. My return was like the return of the prodigal son. It was good to be home. Father was now engaged in moving the wheelwright gravel plant from 20th Street and Monroe to the Weber River site underneath the 24th Street viaduct. Doris was 14 years old and becoming a young lady. She was still hammering the piano and becoming an accomplished young singer. Mother was still her quiet lovable self; keeping a spotless household.
A quick check with the 12th Streeter found continuing changes. Jack Hilton was going steady with a girl named Elanin Poulter. June Forsha was doing the same with Elaine’s sister Melba. Doxey Stone was really serious with June Leavitt. Andy Isakson was being snared by Lucile Gale. All these girls lived close to one another on Cross Street. John Purdy no longer could put up with his dictatorial father, and had joined the Navy. Ivan Hardy, Herb Isakson and Davy Purdy were the only ones free from steady dates or the armed service. The 12th Street gang was coming unglued and looked as though it was going down the drain. I, also, up to this date had remained free from the clutches of a female. What this amounted to was that none of the girls would have anything to do with me. Dancing, a girl’s greatest desire, was still something that eluded me at the age of 22. Girls wanted to dance not sit on the sideline. Besides that I always felt awkward in the company of an individual girl. Girls in crowds did not bother me but just one of my own scared me to death.
One of the 12th Streeter was out of town. Ross Beverly had obtained employment in Pocatello, Idaho with a wholesale grocery business. Ivan Hardy by now had a number of tasks; his post office duty; delivering packages for a number of retail stores and handling some grocery deliveries for AM Food stores.