Marshall &Kay Family  Histories

B. VAUGHN MARSHALL

1949/50 - 1951

 

 

We Meet

 

Vaughn and I met at a church Christmas dance. I was in nurse’s training in San Francisco and had that weekend off duty. The Young Men, Women and Young Adults were decorating the church Christmas tree and had an informal dance after. I was introduced to him by one of the older girls. I remember distinctly my first impression of him as we danced.  I don’t believe I ever met anyone with such beautiful dark blue eyes. The rest of him was pretty good looking too. He wasn’t very tall so I told myself that I really didn’t want to like him too much but I was hooked.  I never dated anyone else after that and as far as I ever knew, Vaughn didn’t either. It was Christmas time 1949/1950. His impressions of me must have been good because he asked me to go to the New Years Eve dance to be held the following week. I had that weekend off duty also and was glad to be asked. We managed to see each other almost every weekend after that. If I had to be on duty a particular weekend he would come up to San Francisco and we would go out when my shift was over. If I had the weekend off then I’d go home to Menlo Park and we would see one another then. Very often he would drive me back to San Francisco. He often told me that on his way back home (it took about an hour) he would have a terrible time staying awake. He’d open the car window, sing loudly, and pinch himself etc. all the way. My curfew time was ten o’clock so that he didn’t get back before 11 o’clock.  On the weekends my curfew time was midnight. It was really a blessing that I had a curfew. The temptations really are greater the later the hour in the evening. So it was a blessing to both of us.  I am writing this little bit for our grandchildren and great grandchildren. We did not always appreciate that cut off time but there was wisdom in those old fashion rules.

 

 Our Dating

 

Some of our grandchildren have asked me what sort of things we did on our dates so I thought I’d share something about that also. When I was at home on the weekends I would often go watch him work. Vaughn worked for his dad in the “tree business”. Besides working for the City of Palo Alto, his dad had started a business on the side. He called it his tree business. He would contract with people to clear certain sections of their land by cutting down and clearing away the trees.  This was hard work but Bill apparently had good experience doing this in his younger years in Utah. It was interesting and fun for me to watch them. Vaughn was a hard worker. It always amazed me that he could take down and cut up trees hour after hour. I was impressed with his physical strength. He may not have been very tall but he was very strong. I learned many things about him by watching him. He didn’t turn away from hard work. He never seemed to be looking for ways to sidetrack what needed to be done. He was respectful of his father. I’m sure there were times he did not agree with his dad, but I never saw him act in a disrespectful way. I learned that he was a loyal person, someone who could be counted on. I considered these times together part of our dating times.  I would often be invited to have dinner at his house and we would just hang out there. Sometimes we’d go to a movie. When I had to stay at the hospital on the weekends, Vaughn would come up when I got off duty, and we’d go to the beach, ride the cable cars, go to Fisherman’s Warf or China Town --- just do stuff like that. The last few months before he left on his mission (for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints) we spent a lot of time reading the scriptures. That kept us” safe” and we needed that extra strength because it was hard to think of being apart for so long.

 

 

          Early in our dating Vaughn told me about his plans to go on a mission for the LDS Church. By the time we had been dating for six months we were talking about marriage. We both knew that was the direction we wanted to go. For a very brief period we talked about his not going and just getting married instead. I think that lasted about a week. He was committed to a mission and I was committed to support him. We had met just as 1950 started and he left on his mission in Jan of 1951. During that year he had been attending Stanford University. He had planned to get a year of schooling before he left. By attending summer quarter he managed to get his full year in. I noticed on his transcript from Stanford he was in the ‘ advanced standing’ category. As the time drew near to submit his ‘papers’ he became very concerned. The government had begun to severely limit the number of young men that could be called on missions. The Korean War was over but there was a great deal of unrest throughout that area of Asia. The government wanted these young men to be available. I remember that Vaughn and I and his family prayed that he would be able to go. He had to get an “exemption” from the government before he could submit his mission papers. He was very blessed and received an exemption. One of his good friends in his Ward was not able to go on a mission for that reason.

 

 

         Vaughn and I gave each other special pictures that we’d had taken of ourselves for Christmas presents that year. They are the one’s  framed and sitting in the bedroom. Vaughn used the same picture to put on his handouts for his “Farewell”. He’s very good looking in it of course. He had grown a nice looking mustache and, guess what? The first missionary sacrifice was now required. He was told that he had to remove the mustache. He didn’t like giving it up but he did as he was asked. It was a nice Farewell and Vaughn gave a very good talk.

 

 

Everything happened so fast ---the whole time frame went like this:   

 

Nov 22,1950        He was interviewed by Spencer W. Kimball

 

 

Jan 8,1951          He received his formal mission call to the Central                                           States Mission    

 

 

Jan 19, 1951       He had his Farewell  

 

 

Jan 21               He left on the train from San Francisco

 

 

Jan 22,1951       Arrived in the mission home in Salt Lake City

 

 

Feb 2, 1951       Arrived by train at Independence, Mo.

 

 

Where he received his further assignments in the mission home there.

 

 

 

President Kimball and Vaughn

 

When President Kimball interviewed Vaughn it was a special experience. He was an Apostle at the time. Often, in those days, an Apostle interviewed a missionary before they left on their missions. President Kimball was the Apostle in charge of the Central States Mission where Vaughn would be assigned. Vaughn always enjoyed telling the story of one of President Kimball’s visits to the mission field. He was in a car with some of the missionaries all going to a conference meeting. Vaughn was among those in the car. They were talking about the word of wisdom and one of the elders expressed his feeling that partaking of chocolate was against the word of wisdom. At that point President Kimble passed around a chocolate bar and invited others to share it with him. He said that he didn’t recall that chocolate was mentioned in the word of wisdom. (Vaughn always loved chocolate) He appreciated President Kimble’s sense of humor and his ability to put everyone at ease. He also appreciated the lesson being taught – that sometimes the Word of Wisdom is not quoted properly. Vaughn said he remembered him as a very kind and loving person.