Chapter 26 Version 2 - William Zywar's Funeral; Jane Off To Beauty School
1944
“Do you need a ride?” the stranger asked Jane. It was
starting to snow in Northampton and the wind was blowing cold March arctic air
along the street past the bus stop. Jane was dressed up for her senior class
picture and was now heading home alone. She expected her best friend Aurelia to
be with her today but Aurelia was at home.
“Are you going to Easthampton?” replied Jane as she looked
at the well dressed young man in the auto from the late 1930’s. There were no
new cars made in the past few years as all of the auto plants had been
converted over to war production.
“I am” said the young man. Jane jumped into her newfound
taxi. “Where is home?”
Jane thought for a second and decided to be delivered to
Aurelia’s house instead of her own home. If she went home, she would just have
to catch a bus to Aurelia’s.
“112 Ferry St., please” instructed Jane.
“Is that your home?” asked her chauffer.
“No, but I am on my way to a wake” Jane responded.
“I hope it is not a relative. A serviceman?”
“My best friend’s older brother, Bill” Jane explained. “He
heard that they were taking men in their older 30’s now and went to enlist. At
his physical they told him to go home and get his affairs in order because he
didn’t have much longer to live. That was three months ago.” Bill was thirty-six
years old, a machinist and a bachelor. A lady in Jane’s church choir would have
married him under any conditions that Bill would have proposed. But Bill’s
medical conditions prevented him from making any long term commitments. The
lady sang but never married either Bill or any other man.
“Cancer?” which was a good guess for non military cause of
death the driver probed.
“I am not exactly sure but he was going into Boston for
treatments. There was some mention of a heart condition” said Jane. The car
radio was on and Jane could hear the song “Mairzy Doats” by The Merry Macs that
had been moving up the Hit Parade chart giving Judy Garland’s “The Trolley
Song” from the movie “Meet Me In St. Louis” a run for the top of the
chart. As the car pulled up in front of
the Zywar farm, she thanked her driver and went inside as the lyrics of Mairzy
Doats tunneled into Jane’s brain:
“Mairzy
doats and dozy doats and liddle lamzy divey
A
kiddley divey too, Wooden shoe!"
Jane didn’t pay too much attention to most songs as she
preferred a date to go to the movies or out to dinner. Going out dancing was
preferred by some of her sisters but Jane would rather to stay off the dance
floor.
The Zywar house would be full if just the immediate family
and their spouses were all here. With cousins, aunts, uncles and friends the
little farmhouse was packed. Brother Stanley and cousin Edwin were not there as
they were out in the Pacific Ocean with no chance at traveling back for the
funeral. Brother Joe was still training with ACORN 29 on Long Island. Joe’s
thirty day confinement to base for an unauthorized leave of less than two days
from noon on February 12th returning at seven in the morning on February
14th would be over on March 14th – one day too late to
return to Easthampton for the funeral. ACORN 29 could be called to ship out to
Europe at any time. However on March 7th, Joe was granted a ten day
emergency leave to see his brother before he died. Bill was hospitalized in
Cooley-Dickinson Hospital on February 9th with an enlarged heart,
high blood pressure and chronic kidney problems. Bill died on March 10th
and the funeral was March 13th.
Joe was back on base in Long Island on time on March 18th.
His restriction to base was successfully completed on March 14th
while on emergency leave. Joe’s rating was also increased to F1C Fireman First
Class on February 15th.
Jane looked around the house at the wake on March 12th
and saw her sister Rose sitting next to Bill’s mother. “Hi Jane. Thank you for
coming today” said Bill’s mother Helena as Jane took off her winter coat. “Your
sister Rose came just a little while ago. She seems like a very nice young lady”
said Helena before being drawn away by another wave of mourners.
“Bill’s mother was looking to do some matchmaking between me
and her son Joe. I told her she needed to look elsewhere as I am married” said
Rose smiling.
Later that year, Jane was again looking for a ride. In
September, she started school at the Burbury-Rose Beauty School in Springfield.
The training took six months without counting vacations and holidays so she
would graduate the next April. On a bulletin board was a note that someone
working in Springfield was looking for a carpool rider to share the cost of the
daily commute. Jane schedule was eight to four and the driver had a nine to
five job. Jane decided to try and see if this would work. So Jane was picked up
at seven o’clock each morning and was back at home at six o’clock each night.
The driver waited an hour for work to start each morning and Jane waited to get
picked up for an hour each evening.
“Hi Jane. I am looking for a roommate to share a room at the
YWCA. Are you interested?” asked one of Jane’s classmates at the beauty school.
School had been in session for a few weeks. The classmate was a Polish girl
from Hadley.
“That sounds good to me” said Jane as the commuting schedule
was not ideal for either of the carpoolers. So Jane moved to the Y and was able
to get a job at the Y working at the front desk and serving breakfast and
dinner and then washing dishes in the industrial size dish washer. Jane was a
good worker and enjoyed working for the Y. She settled into a routine that
would last for the rest of the school year without the need for daily commuting
either by car or by bus. Jane was able to finance her beautician schooling by
working at the Y as her expenses were modest. School was in walking distance of
the Y so there was little wasted time and money. For Jane it was a time of new
friends and making her way into the wider world.
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