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Times Remembered

Simple gift stays fresh in her mind

Her husband's thoughtfulness on her birthday nearly 60 years ago remains precious.

By VIVIAN GRIMM
Published April 26, 2005

	[Times photo: Scott Keeler]
	Vivian Grimm was a young college student in Iowa when she met her future husband, David, by offering him some popcorn. They were married for 59 years.

It was a long lonely train ride from Chicago to Ames, Iowa. I was due to check in at Roberts Hall at Iowa State College (now Iowa State University.) I had never been to Iowa. I was 17.

My Dad could not afford to drive me to school so the Chicago & Northwestern train took me there. In those days, parents assumed that their son or daughter would be adult enough to accept the school of their choice and accept the living conditions that went with the territory.

It was late at night when the train pulled into town. I had no idea that the man I was going to marry was a graduate student and working in Ames. The train stopped at the depot and I stepped down. My steamer trunk was rolled over to a waiting cab. I was on my way to Roberts Hall, the dorm for freshmen girls; it would be my home for the next nine months.

After about six months, I was settling into college life. It wasn't long before the girls in the dorm began to pair up. Friday nights would find us downtown at the movies. We waited patiently in line because the theater had one showing a night. I bought a box of popcorn.

The girls decided that if one of us would get lucky (meaning a date), the group would leave and let the gal continue with her find.

We watched a handsome young man place letters in the overhead marquee. It was freezing that night and I felt sorry for him. When he came down the ladder I offered him some popcorn. Ten minutes later we were sitting together watching the movie Meet Me in St. Louis starring Judy Garland.

I called my parents the next day and told them I met the man I wanted to marry. My mother asked where he lived and what his parents did for a living.

I replied that they lived on a farm. My mother said, "Good, you will never go hungry."

We were married seven months later and my husband accepted a teaching position in a small rural town in Iowa, population 100. I was lonesome for my family in Chicago but love has a way of taking an individual anywhere.

We lived in an old farmhouse with my husband's Aunt Lizzy. A meager teaching position did not allow for luxuries. My husband knew that my birthday was the third week in April. I was pregnant and there was no money for fancy birthday presents. The morning of my birthday he went outdoors with one of Aunt Lizzy's crystal bowls. When he returned, clutched in his hands was a bowl filled with fresh violet plants. He hand-dug the clumps from a pasture.

"Happy Birthday, little Mother to be," my husband said.

Every time I hear a train whistle, which isn't very often today, my thoughts go back to my days in Iowa and my April birthday gift from my husband.

Fifty-nine years ago that simple present that didn't cost a cent meant more to me than expensive jewelry.

My husband left this world six months ago.

I think I will buy myself a violet plant for my birthday. Purple, the color of field violets.

Vivian Grimm celebrated her 78th birthday on April 21. She has four children, five grandchildren and one great-grandchild. She is also a seasoned traveler.

Let's hear it for: Charlene Sue Rubush's interesting story titled "A Vision Manifested" about life decisions and consequences; Gladys Spaulding for a fun and nostalgic tale about her family's car in "Our Old Flivver"; and Dianne Price for a smartly written story titled "The Intruder" about her baby sister.

[Last modified April 22, 2005, 08:50:04]