The town in which I live has a university. Sixty years ago, it was much smaller, and mostly just a teacher's college with a general education major and a physical education major. "Beth" whom I visited today recalls the sad times when she was a student here. It was during World War II. The college had seven hundred women and just thirteen men. The rest were at war. She met her husband in town when he came home on leave from the military. She has been here ever since.
She talked about the rationing coupons. That was before my time, of course, though I have heard Gerry talk about that. She spoke of their struggles to get enough coupons for gas. Then she told me the wonderful story of her father's generosity. Maybe it was inappropriate, or perhaps even illegal, but it was certainly generous. Her father had a farm, though he used horses and plows. When he discovered how hard it was for GI's to get gasoline, he bought an old tractor to park in his field, just so he could get coupons to give to the soldiers, so they could go places when home on leave! He was honest and told the tractor dealer just what he was going to do. He had a farm, and a field, and now he had a tractor, so his access to gas coupons suddenly increased. At least it was for a good cause!
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