Romantic Memoirs

Pearl and Harry were married on January 4, 1910. Harry’s first wife had passed away in February 1909 at the young age of 36. She left three little girls for her husband to raise. Harry was in need of a wife, and Pearl was to meet that need. "Pearl and Harry" was submitted by Pearl’s step-granddaughter. Here is their story.

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Pearl pulled the blankets up close under her chin to keep the cold of the winter night away from her already shivering small frame. She must surely try to get to sleep quickly because tomorrow would be the day that she had looked forward to for longer than she could remember. Truly, at times in her young life, she had wondered if a day such as tomorrow would, indeed, ever come for her.

Now, tomorrow, and forever, there would be Harry in her life. She could think of him ever so clearly as she had seen him for the very first time. She had looked up from her typewriter to see this handsome face watching her as she was intently working. He had come into the office and had quietly said, "Good morning," as he walked through the doorway to see his friend - her boss. Harry was tall, much taller than Pearl, and, she had thought, even then, very good looking. His light brown hair had an unruly lock, which fell over his forehead drawing attention to his widely spaced blue eyes. His mouth was full, accentuating his easy smile. Of course, there was slight cleft in his chin.

Tomorrow night she would be with Harry in his large home in town, but for these moments left to her, she needed now to think about this last night that she would be just her own person and, for the last time, in control of her own destiny. She must take this quiet time alone to remember all that she would be forever leaving behind. There would be no returning, and the memories of her family and this small farm would fade as the new joys and sorrows fought for their place in her memories.

Pearl could hear her Mother still quietly moving about the kitchen as she put the last of the dishes in place for tomorrow. Life had not been an easy experience for Pearl’s parents, Susan and Otho. Susan had had a brain fever as an infant and had lost her hearing. Otho suffered through an illness when he was four years old which had left him without any ability to hear. He was often a bitter man because he resented losing his hearing and longed for what he knew he had lost. Perhaps that was part of the reason Otho was so short-tempered. He would recover his temper quickly, but it flared often. Susan said that the easiest time for her with Otho was when she was carrying a baby. He would not lose his temper with her because he felt it would "mark" the baby.

Otho was a skilled carpenter and used his talent in building houses. He was able to support his family with his work and also by the family’s work on their small farm at 43^rd and Burdette in Omaha, Nebraska. Susan and Otho, like many farm families, had the children to help with the farm activities. Phil, who was two years older than Pearl, followed by Mac, Virginia, Elizabeth, and Hazel all pitched in with the daily chores.

Pearl had used this bedroom in the back of the house for as long as she could remember. It was also in this room that she turned her talents into the dressmaking business to earn money. She was very skillful in her "fancywork," sewing by hand, and in using her foot-pedal sewing machine. Ladies would come to her home, describe what their needs were, and Pearl would set about sewing the garments.

As the months passed, and those months turned into years, Pearl decided that she just was not meeting any new people, especially young men. She determined that, of course, the best place to meet a fine respectable man would be at church so Pearl went off to church. Her parents had not gone to church for obvious reasons - they could not hear the preacher.

Well, lo and behold, she did meet a fine young man. One day, after church, Pearl took the young man home to meet her parents. Naturally, it was necessary for Pearl to use sign language with her hands as the introductions and conversations took place. All Pearl ever said about the young man from the church was that he never came back.

If Pearl was ever going to meet new people and to make more money than in dressmaking, she was going to have to get a job in town. It was only shortly after she had come to this decision that Pearl, while on an errand in town, started talking with a girl who was selling items from behind a counter in a small store. Pearl, with desperation giving her courage, asked her how she had been hired for this job.

"Well, I just asked a girl who was already working here, and I was hired," was the reply.

Encouraged, but with some hesitancy in her voice, Pearl looked the girl straight in the eye and said, "Do you suppose I could get a job here too?"

Surprised at her good fortune, Pearl was now a part of a group of women who were employed in town. She enjoyed talking with all the people who would come by the counter. One of the pleasant parts of the day was the lunch hour. She would take the food that she brought from home and eat in a room on an upper floor of the building that had been set aside for the working women. Most of the women brought their lunches from home to save money, as eating at a restaurant would have cost just too much money for a working girl.

Some of the young ladies who ate lunch together were secretaries in the building. As she eagerly listened to them talk about their work, Pearl asked how she could become a secretary. They each told her that she would need to go to a secretarial school to learn typing, shorthand, and bookkeeping.

Pearl made up her mind that being a secretary must be her new game plan. She found out that the Vansant Secretarial School was close by and she could enroll for the course for thirty dollars. Dear brother Phil loaned her the money, and she was on her way to a new career.

Just as we all have defining events in our lives, Pearl could have not known then that this decision was the pivotal one that would lead her to the love of her life.

At the end of Pearl’s secretarial studies, it happened that a secretarial position was open at the Omaha Fire Insurance Company. That, of course, is where Pearl was able to find employment. She worked for a man by the name of William Ahmanson, a very pleasant man who was a good employer.

Even though Pearl was a dressmaker, she remained very frugal with her working clothes. She had two white blouses and two black skirts that she wore on alternate days, laundering one outfit as she wore the other. She would chuckle later on, that she often walked the long distance to work from home so she could save the nickel the streetcar ride would have cost.

Then the day came when Harry walked into the office. He and Mr. Ahmanson talked for a while behind the closed door before coming out to stand at Pearl’s desk.

"Pearl, I would like for you to meet my very good friend, Harry."

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