For our children – Marie, Ellen, Gary, Jeanne, Steve.
Herman & Mary Branin
Since the most important event in my life was the marriage to your mother, I have chosen that as my first story to write about. I think you will enjoy it.
By Herman Branin
After graduating from College at San Diego State in February of l948 I needed a job so went to the San Diego County civil service office in the Civic Center building on Harbor Drive overlooking the bay. I took the examination for the Department of Public Welfare, passed and was hired immediately. When I reported for work I was assigned to Area B. This Unit of a supervisor, six social workers and a clerk-steno worked in the Old Age Security program which was aid to those over sixty-five and was part of the Federal Social Security Program. The supervisor was Carolyn Loring a woman I would guess in her fifties. I soon learned she was an excellent teacher and ran a tight ship. I was introduced to Allison Burns who was a social worker and held down a job in order to buy gasoline for her car, a flashy convertible. She apparently had other means of support. Another piece of information learned from her was that real ladies only bought bras with lace. She was a snob but a hell of a lot of fun. Next to Alison sat Frances Meyer, also a social worker. Frances was a cute young lady of probably, 23 years of age recently married. She had blondish red hair and a temper to match. Next I was introduced to Marge Burnette. She was a very attractive lady about my age, very smart and I soon learned had a great sense of humor. She was assigned as my field instructor. Next to me sat Beverly Jones, another social worker, who hailed from Oregon and was probably in her mid twenties. I was the fifth social worker and there was one vacancy. The star of this tale was Mary Lockwood, the steno-clerk. She was very pretty and I guessed about nineteen years of age. During the next three years many other people would pass through the Unit. Some fifty-three years later Marge Burnette, now Johnson, is still one of our best friends. I soon observed that Mary was very fast, very efficient, a friend to everyone and the favorite of the department staff. Overall I was struck with the intelligence of everyone in the group and the accuracy with which they turned out the work. They all seemed to enjoy life and the mirth coming out of area B was known throughout the department.
By July of l948 Mary, whose parents had immigrated to the United States in the early 1920’s from Australia, was busy making plans with mother, Elsie, and sister, Florence, for a trip to Australia by ship. Florence who was married would be taking her two year old son, Dennis. Mary’s father, Stan, brother, John, and Tom Allen, Florence’s husband would remain in San Diego. The travelers departed in November 1948 and returned in May 1949. Mary who had had to resign when she left was soon rehired and back in Unit B before the end of May.
Shortly upon her return Mary told me that she had had a shipboard romance with a crewman, Neil Handley, and had expected to marry him and make her home in Australia. I missed the end of her conversation as I was called to see someone and left on vacation the next day for ten days in the Feather River country and the California Coast. While I was away I thought we would never get a clerk to replace Mary. When I returned I heard the rest of Mary’s story of her shipboard romance. She said she knew when she departed the ship in Vancouver on the return that the romance was over. I wasn’t disappointed and I asked her if she would go with me on a drive to the Laguna Mts. on the following Sunday. She accepted. While doing my work I had become acquainted with Fred Zilliox who resided at the Golden West Hotel in downtown San Diego. The owner of the Golden West had a ranch in the Lagunas with a stream and Fred was attempting to raise trout in this stream for the owner and wondered if I would be interested in seeing his operation. I had told him I would be. Also I asked Frank and Meche Alverson to go along. I had met Frank at San Diego State College in l94l and we became lifelong friends. Frank was employed in tuna research and was interested in fishing of all kinds. Anyway we took a picnic lunch and looked over the trout raising operation. Later Mary told me that she didn’t remember this as one of her favorite memories.
We continued to date and later events would put me on a roller coaster ride that didn’t end until February l950. I saw Mary out of the office a couple of times a week through July and August. In early September we had dinner and a show and when I took her home she said she no longer wanted to go out with me. This was not a total surprise as certain actions by her during the evening indicated to me that she was not desirous of my company. When I first started dating her I had told her that if she ever wanted to stop to come right out and say so. As we worked in the same office she couldn’t avoid me and I didn’t want to put her in the position of having to make excuses. I thanked her for telling me and drove home with a knot in my stomach as I had found that I was falling in love with this young lady. The next day at work I felt that Mary was somewhat uncomfortable but it passed in a day or so. Some weeks later she told me that at the dinner on our last date she thought I “looked like a squirrel” while eating.
Within two or three weeks Mary told me she was engaged and was busy scanning the classifieds for a house to rent. She didn’t say whom she was marrying. Mary had always played the field and dated two or three men on a regular basis. One of them, George Clayton, was in the navy and I had met him once at Mary’s house when I went to borrow a typewriter. I didn’t think it was he. A couple of weeks before she stopped going with me she had started dating Jimmy Mattingly. Jimmy was a friend of Bob Piersall who went with Mary’s sister, Florence. Florence had obtained a divorce shortly after returning from Australia. I thought it was Jimmy to whom she was engaged. Mary and I remained friends and the weeks went by. Mary said nothing about her forthcoming marriage. I often wondered why she told me about rather personal items going on in her life.
One afternoon in late November or early December I, Mary and the supervisor, were the only ones in Unit B. I told Mary that I was going on my break. She asked if she could go along. This was somewhat surprising as she usually went with some of the other ladies. I readily acceded and we stopped by the concession stand to purchase refreshments before proceeding outside to look at the harbor. It was soon obvious that she wanted me to ask her for a date. The engagement had evidently ended. I arranged to take her to the ice hockey game on Saturday night. Since she didn’t like sports perhaps this meant she wanted to be with me. We dated quite frequently in December. Some time during the month I told her that I was in love with her but got practically no response. She did say she still wanted to go with me but was not interested in marriage. As New Year’s Eve approached I was invited to a New Year’s Eve party co-hosted by Ginny Landis and husband and their friends, the DeLannoys. Ginny worked in the Welfare Office and was a friend of Mary’s and I presumed Mary had also been invited. When I asked Mary if she was going with me she said no, and that she had a date with George Clayton for that night. George was now stationed at Point Magu. This also told me that after Mary’s engagement had ended she had also gotten in touch with George. This young lady was certainly covering all bases. George’s family lived in Pomona and she would be going there to spend the holiday. A couple of days before New Years’ Mary told me that she would rather be going to the Landis-DeLannoy party. I knowing her integrity knew that she would not break her date with George and never considered asking her to do so.
When I arrived at the DeLannoys’ I found quite a number from our office there. Two of them a couple of attractive young ladies, Terry Elliott and Jackie Cartwright soon let me know that they were going to take me in tow for the evening. Drinks, games and fun made for a wonderful evening. However, as I drove home about 3 a.m. I wondered how Mary’s New Years’ Eve turned out.
By noon on New Year’s day, which was a Sunday I had cleared the cobwebs from my brain and was lounging around my apartment probably wondering what to do with the remainder of the holiday. My question was soon answered. About 2 p.m. I received a telephone call and it was Mary. Apparently her date with George had not gone well and she had driven back to San Diego that morning and wondered if I was free. I told her I would be at her place in an hour and we would see what we wanted to do that night and the following day, which we had off because of the Sunday holiday.
When we returned to work on Tuesday some of the office ladies couldn’t wait to tell Mary about the DeLannoy party and my activities there. Mary seemed much more curious in questioning me about what went on. During January we were seeing each other out of the office four to five times a week and the invitations to the family dinner table increased in frequency. In the past two months two competitors had been eliminated and I thought I perhaps was the only one she was dating. (She usually told me if she was dating someone else but you will have to wait for Mary’s story to find out for sure.) I never brought up anymore discussion of a possible marriage since the turn down in December.
On Valentine’s Day in February I was invited to dinner. After dinner probably around 9 p.m. I was either going home or we wanted more privacy so we walked outside and sat in one of the family cars. I don’t recall what we were discussing but in answer to something she questioned I said, “What do you want?” She responded “you”. I couldn’t believe it. The roller coaster came to a stop. We agreed on a marriage date in June as we would both have vacation coming. We would go to Jessups the next Saturday and order our rings. There was no doubt in my mind that this engagement would last. I went home one happy man.
Note: After 5l years I still can’t believe that this intelligent, honest, beautiful young lady with unmatched integrity and a wonderful sense of humor agreed to marry me. Your mother always says “it was just dumb luck”. In reviewing the events of the year before our marriage and discussing some of the occasions with your mother I found that in completing this story that I have fallen in love with your mother all over again. Who says old people can’t have romance? Your mother has been after me for over two years to write some history or anecdotes about my life before we became a family. I have been procrastinating. A short time ago your mother sent Jeanne a copy of an article she had written for the Escondido Historical Society about riding her bicycle to Oceanside when she was a young girl. Jeanne wrote back that she would like to hear more. I decided I had better get busy. That’s why you are getting “The Courting of Mary Lockwood”. I will try to add others. Dad