to visit my Bubba Mary, my mother’s mother, for a few days. There was a circle of people sitting on the beach, I saw that I knew one of the girls, so I joined them and there was Jack. He was very tan and had thick black hair. I thought he was cute. We went back to Philadelphia on the train togeth- er. From then on we were together constantly. Six months later we were engaged. My mother didn’t approve of Jack because of his habit of wearing a sweater during the summer just because his mother thought he might catch a cold. On the other hand, since I came from a family of women who knew a little bit about sewing, it was very odd to me to see how Jack’s mother did such a bad job of hemming a dress I gave her for Mother’s Day. Funny how these little things matter. My mother predicted I would never marry Jack. It made me angry at the time but she was right. Just before the war ended Jack and I broke up. He and his father came to my house to collect the engagement ring Jack had given me. I guess I was not destined for either Sidney or Jack.
I remember that while I was at Allstate a woman was killed or seriously injured from a fall down an escalator at the nearby John Wannamaker depart- ment store. To this day I cannot bring myself to step onto a down escalator. Instant phobia. My husband, Herman, is the same way about small elevators. So going to a large department store with the two of us is a little tricky. I also remember a woman in our office accidentally stabbing herself with a knitting needle when the ladies’ room door opened toward her and hit her crochet bag. Sounds like a dangerous place to work but it wasn’t. WARTIME ROMANCES One of my boyfriends during the war was Jack Moritznick who was deferred, which meant he was ineligible for military service. I don’t know what it was that disqualified him because he worked very hard in the Sun Shipyard, climbing up on the highest ship masts, and performing all sorts of dangerous work. I met Jack at Atlantic City where I had gone
Dorothy (19) and Jack Moritznick
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