Marriage

Claire and I were married in the fall of 1942 and we moved to our new home about five weeks later. The move itself was quite an experience. Besides the usual household furniture and equipment, we also had to move the livestock, feed and equipment. We rented a large truck and hauled many loads of loose hay and field corn. We spent much time traveling back and forth and in getting settled. We were there only a few days before discovering that the house was infected with bedbugs. So instead of moving our bedroom furniture into the house, we put it into a neighbor's barn where we left it until spring and we had thoroughly cleaned and fumigated our house.
On our wedding day, of course, we had to get back to the old farm in order to milk the cows in the evening. On our way home from the wedding, as we were passing the William Penn Inn, we stopped to watch the firemen fighting a fire in a large frame building behind the Inn. The firemen kept it from spreading but the building was completely destroyed. In the evening, we went out to have our dinner at Trainers, a restaurant about ten miles north on Bethlehem Pike. On our way there, we were caught in a blackout, which were common in those days to make us familiar with what to do in case of an enemy air raid. After about fifteen or twenty minutes of sitting in the dark we were allowed to proceed. We often intended to go back to that restaurant but we never did, and I don't know if it is still in existence.