Our first date was a fun date and one that we would repeat many times over. I took Mary Lou to the weekly school dance at the Student Union. Each Saturday night, there was a dance with a live rock and roll group. There were many garage bands during the 1960’s and ’70’s. There would be several bands in the area and plenty of dances for them to play for. I think I picked her up at her dorm, and we walked across the campus to the Student Union. I can’t remember if we did anything afterward. We might have taken a car ride, being as I had a car. My car was like my mobile living room. Neither of us were allowed in each other’s dorm rooms, and there weren’t many private places to be together.
After our first date, we just started hanging out together. We ate all our meals together at the dorm’s cafeteria. She would wait for me to finish my swim practice. I would arrive with several of my swim team friends and we would all sit together. I ate a lot of food during this time, and she hung in there with me while I would go back for seconds and sometimes, thirds. On Sundays, breakfast was a continental breakfast/ brunch, and then it would shut down until Monday’s breakfast. So each Sunday evening, we would go out for dinner together. Our favorite place was the Little Sweden. It was a Swedish smorgasbord, but they also had a menu. We would order the hamburger deluxe. It came with two meat paddies with lots of stuff on top like onions and mushrooms. This all came on a home-made bun that was delicious. It also came with a full plate of sliced fried potatoes. The best part was that it didn’t cost much.
We would sometimes go to a place in nearby Talent. It was called the Talent Cafe. It served family style. They would have an offering for that night, such as roast beef, and you would make reservations. You would be seated at a large table with several other people. The food would come on platters that you passed around. It was home-style cooking, served with love by two older sisters. I loved that place.
Ashland isn’t an entertainment capitol, or it wasn’t in the late 1960’s. We were limited in what we could do for a “date.” There was the local movie theater which we went to a few times. Besides eating out, our favorite pastime was taking a walk after dinner. We would take long walks and talk about our lives. Now that the family is grown and we are just the two of us, we have discovered that we still love to go for long walks. Some things are always there.
Swagerty-Aldrich Family Web Site 