In my first journal that I wrote about when I first remembered my parents when I was probably 3 years old. I also said that the first place we lived in was in Walker, Iowa. When I was in first grade we moved to Clarence, Iowa. In those days it was typical for Methodist Ministers to move about every 5 years. The District Superintendent and the Bishop in those days decided when and wherethe minister's moved to. They had a conference in September and about 6 weeks after school started they had to move. The reason I mention this is because I wanted you to know I was not happy about having to go to a new school and leave all my friends that I had known for 5 years. I always had my favorite friends that I really missed! When we moved everyone knew me, but I didn't know anyone! We moved to Brandon, Iowa when I was in the fifth grade and then a few years later he moved to Melbourne, Iowa. When I was a sophomore in high school we moved to Parkersburg, Iowa. Believe it or not I found out it was fun to be the "new girl in school" then! Guess why? I was 15 years old then and met some boys I liked and they liked me too. I had my first date when I was 15 with a boy I met at a party at the church soon after we moved. They had a theater in Parkersburg so Gene and I went to a movie together. We double dated a lot with other couples and I found out that meeting new kids my age was a lot of fun. I was in lots of different activities in high school including band, chorus, and Girls Glee Club. When I was a junior we moved to Shell Rock. It was fun by this time to meet new friends and attend all the school activities. I got my drivers license when I was 16 and I remember it cost 50 cents! I remember my dad telling me that I shouldn't drive to Waverly to often because it cost 1 dollar everytime I drove to Waverly and back! I graduated from Shell Rock high school in 1938 and then attended Wartburg College and took a 2 year business course to be a secretary. I had gone with quite a few boys in high school and college, but believe it or not...I had not met my future husband yet. Galen had graduated from high school in 1936 and was attending college. One weekend when I was home from college I met Galen at a youth meeting at the church. Love and marriage begins for Galen Neal and Lois Bearse after we met at that church in Shell Rock. Our first date was to a boxing match at Electric Park in Waterloo! We double dated with Bob Hickle and his girlfriend. That is the one and only boxing match I ever attended. Since we were both going to college we usually would get together on the weekends. We both liked to go to movies and lots of times Galen invited me to come out to his home for Sunday dinners. I loved going out to their place for dinner. We always had such a good time and his mother was a super cook. Usually Galens brother, Donald, was home on the weekend too and sometimes his sister and her family were there too. I really enjoyed being with his family. Galen and I dated for 2 years before he ask me to marry him. He asked me to go with him to a jewelry store in Charles City and we picked out my diamond and a wedding ring. We were married on September 12th 1942. For our honeymoon trip we went to Boloxi, Mississippi and also visited one of Galen's college roommatea and his new bride in New Orleans. We celebrated our 25th anniversary visiting Galens sister and husband in Hawaii. Galen said his favorite anniversary was our 50th because we received a vcr from the children. You all know Galen liked to tease me a lot and you all laughed at his jokes. We had lot a lot of wonderful trips together. Little did I know we would have so many more trips to visit our children and grandchildren in Hawaii. I am so glad we traveled as much as we did when you were young! I have such good memories of the family vacations we took every summer. We had so much fun!
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