Off to Salt Lake

Moving to Salt Lake 1942
     I picked up spuds all fall and made what I thought was a lot of money.  We were in good shape financially when spud harvest was complete.  Jess didn’t want to work in a spud cellar all winter and there weren’t any other jobs so Jess, Dale Clay and I drove to Salt Lake City on my 18th birthday in the cold red convertible.  We had a hard time finding  a hotel room that first night.  It was war time and Soldiers stationed at Fort Douglas came to visit before their loved ones were shipped out.  Jess always felt badly he couldn’t join the army.  Because of his bad heart he was rated 4F.
     Jess couldn’t find work in town but there were several men from Archer who were working out in the desert at a chemical plant.  Jess and Dale went to work there.
     I found work as a waitress at Walgreen Drug store as a waitress.  I couldn’t afford to stay at a hotel so I stayed at a boarding house on State St.  Two gracious elderly widows ran the boarding house and there were only ten boarders and the food was fantastic.  I shared a bedroom with  two girls my age, who were looking for work.  We searched the want ads and decided to go to a radio tube manufacturing plant.  I wasn’t making very good money at Walgreens.  I lost five pounds the one week I worked there.  People were always standing in line waiting to be served and it was a hectic rat race.